I glanced over at her, resisting the urge to do what I really wanted to. This is stupid. I knew it was. I shouldn’t have to lie to her and knew that, but she had made it clear that she was only willing to help me. I
I mentally shook himself. Get a grip.
I wasn’t sure what it was about her, but there was just something. We made our way closer to the fair, and she actually started to look more excited.
“I haven’t been to one of these in ages,” she admitted.
“Then I guess I picked a good place.”
“Still, I don’t want you to feel like you had to. I mean, we could have just headed to your place or something to grab a few pictures.”
Right. Pictures. That was what I’d told her.
The truth was I kind of wanted to know what his place looked like. I bit my lip as we made our way closer to the fair.
“I mean, not that I mind the idea of going to a fair,” I said quickly, realizing he hadn’t replied. I waited a couple seconds before turning to face him. What?
Where was he? I looked behind me. He stood a few feet away, staring straight ahead. I followed his line of sight but didn’t see anything that stuck out to me. I crossed over to him. “Adam?”
“What? Oh. I …” He sounded shaken. I reached out without thinking about it and touched his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
He turned to look at me, a soft smile touching his lips. “I’m just glad to have you here. After all, you are my girlfriend, right?”
Without a word, his fingers tangled with mine, and he started walking again. My mind raced trying to keep up with what had just happened. I scanned the crowd again, trying to figure out what had caused him to stop. Why did he just call me his girlfriend? It doesn’t make sense.
We made our way towards the line but didn’t manage to make it there before someone reached out and stopped us.
“Adam?”
He had bright green eyes that looked Adam over.
“Kurt. Hi, it’s been a while.”
Kurt? As in the one that he’d been talking about. The one that Kathrine had told me about? My heart skipped a beat. No wonder he had frozen back there.
His fingers tightened around my hand. Squeezing so hard.
“It’s so good to see you!” I could see Kurt going in for a hug. My hand slipped from Adam’s and wrapped around his arm, stepping closer and drawing the attention away from Adam.
Kurt stopped, looking over at me. “Hi! I’m so sorry I missed you. It’s just been such a long time since I saw my cousin. You must be the one Josh was telling me about.”
“Josh was talking about me? I hope at least some of it was good.”
Kurt laughed softly. “He spoke very highly of you.”
“Anyways,” Adam cleared his throat, “it was nice to see you but …” He trailed off, glancing past Kurt as a woman headed over here, a child beside her.
He closed his mouth, and I saw him swallow.
“Kurt …” she came to a stop, looking at me and Adam. Confusion written all over her face.
“Hi,” I gave a wide smile. “I’m Fiona.”
I had no clue what else I was supposed to say, but I had to fill the silence.
“Um, hi.” She glanced from me to Adam, her eyes resting on him for a fraction of a second before she turned to Kurt.
“Anyways, we’d better go. Bye.”
He all but pulled me away from the two of them as he headed away from the fair. I didn’t protest. Obviously, we weren’t going to the fair, anymore. His hand tightened around mine as we walked along the waterfront.
“Adam …” I pulled him to a stop, and he spun to face me. I didn’t need to be an expert to know that he was shaken. He’d gone a couple shades pale, and his eyes were still wide. “What is wrong?”
“I … I can’t …” He trailed off, his eyes locked on me, and sighed heavily as he ran his free hand through his hair. A couple seconds later, he looked away from me. “I can’t say I like that man very much.”
“It was Kurt, right? The one you used to be really close with.” The one his mom had told me about when I was there last weekend.
“Yes. We used to be close.”
“And then what?”
Adam stared at me; his eyes narrowed. “You should ask someone else that. They’ll all tell you I went crazy or snapped.”
“What if I want to ask you?”
“You won’t get the answer.” He turned, not saying a word as he tried to pull away from me. I wouldn’t let him go.
“Adam …”
“I’m sure my mother would be willing to give you all the details.”
“She already told me what she knows. I want to know your side. I want to know what happened.” It all came out before I thought about it. I bit my lip, knowing it was the stupidest thing I could have said.
“She told you, eh? Of course, she did. It’s not like she has any sense of what is and isn’t hers to tell. Then you know as much of the story as you’re ever going to know.”
This time, he didn’t try to pull away, he just pulled me along with him as he walked. I let him drag me, unsure of what else I was supposed to do as he walked briskly through the park, up the street, and towards the car.
He didn’t stop until we got in the car. He didn’t even put the keys in the ignition as he rested his head against the headrest.
I turned to him just in time to see him wipe away a tear.
My heart skipped a beat. I reached out and took his hand in mine. I didn’t care if we weren’t supposed to be friends. I wanted to make him feel better.
“What did he do to you?”
“It’s not my life he ruined,” he spat. His eyes opened as he looked at me, and his hand twitched under mine, but he didn’t pull away from me. He gave me a soft smile.
“Have you ever told someone your side of the story?”
“No. No one wanted to know my side. No one cared about our side. All they cared about was him.”
“Our?”
His cheeks flushed as he looked away from me. “It doesn’t matter.”
I bit my lip. I didn’t want to push him, but I wanted to make him feel better. I wanted to give him a chance to talk. Was that so crazy of me?
I looked away, taking a deep breath. “You know, when I was 11, my brother got into this huge fight with a boy in our school. He refused to tell the teachers or the parents why he did it. My parents were so mad, they took away everything they could. No friends, no TV, no nothing. And he didn’t even complain. He took his punishment without a word. When we were finally alone, I asked him why he’d done it. Do you know what he said? He said it was because the boy had made fun of me for wearing my brother’s hand-me-downs.”
I smiled, thinking about it. Maybe this had nothing to do with a girl, but it had something to do with someone else and knowing him … seeing the way he looked at his sister, I didn’t doubt that he would do anything for them.
Adam snorted. I turned to see him with a soft smile on his face as he slipped the car key into the ignition and gunned the engine. “Sounds like you’ve got a damn good brother,” he said, pulling away from the parking spot.
“Actually, I think you two would get along really well.”
I gave him a smile.
It wasn’t until he was down the road and stopping at a stop light that I realized his hand was still under mine.
My cheeks flushed as I tried to figure out if I should just leave my hand there or move it.
“So what now? I mean, we didn’t get any pictures.”
“Now,” he looked down at the clock, biting his lips, “I guess we could run the car up to my parents.”
I wasn’t into the idea of going to see his family, but after the side of him I just saw, I wasn’t going to voice it. I didn’t want to add any more stress to him right now. Anyways, seeing his family won’t be that bad.
I liked them. I just didn’t want them to get attached to me and be broken up when we ‘broke up�
��.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea? I mean … I don’t want your family to …”
“My family already loves you. They will be thrilled to see you again so soon. Mom said even Becky was talking about you to her friends, and she’s a 15-year-old. I’m not sure what you guys did while my dad and I were out golfing, but you must have won them all over.”
My cheeks flushed.
I had never had to win an entire family over before. Pride swelled inside me knowing that I had managed to.
“How did golfing go with your dad? Is it something you guys do often?”
“No, it’s not. I just … we don’t get much time, just the two of us except at work, but at work he’s … the boss, and I’m his employee.” He shrugged.
“It must have been nice.”
“It was.”
I bit my lip. Even though we’d been out for less than an hour, I felt like I was getting to know him so much better than I had last weekend.
But don’t forget what he was like last weekend. He had been rude and made it clear that I was only good for one thing. Then, all week he had made it clear that I was just another person who worked at the same place. We weren’t friends. He’d made that clear. So no point in getting too attached to him.
It sucked because he was actually really nice and really cute. It’s almost a shame I can’t actually be his girlfriend.
When we got out of the car in his parents’ driveway, as much as I hated admitting it, I was excited to see everyone. And when Gabby greeted us by giving me a hug before her brother, I was beyond happy about it. Dread filled the pit of my stomach. I knew this wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. Judging by the look on Adam’s face, he wasn’t impressed either.
“Hi, Fiona!” Becky called from the stairs.
“Hi!” I tried not to sound like I didn’t want to be there, but the truth was, I wanted nothing more than to get away as fast as I could, because if I didn’t, I risked them getting attached to me even more. I took a deep breath and turned as I heard footsteps from the kitchen.
“Adam, I didn’t realize you were stopping by so early,” his father said.
“Oh, a couple things came up, and we had some time. I figured I’d get the car back to you sooner rather than later.”
“Well, thanks.” His dad gave him a wide smirk.
“Fiona! I thought I heard Becky call your name.” Kathrine smiled widely, “I’m glad to see you so soon again.”
“It’s nice to see you, too.”
“You know, the girls and I were thinking about doing a girl’s weekend next weekend. I was going to get Adam to talk to you about it, but since you’re here … would you like to come with us?”
No. Yes. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to get more attached to them.
“I’m sure we can make it work,” Adam answered for me. Clearly that was what he wanted me to do, but was it the right move? Wouldn’t it be better to keep me away from his family?
“I’ll have to double check my schedule, but I can try to make it work for sure.” I gave her a smile. At least, if it turned out that Adam didn’t want me to do it, I could say there was something I had to do that I forgot about, and that would be that. I took a deep breath, hoping no one realized how nervous the idea of a girl’s day made me.
“Come on in; I can make coffee.” Adam’s father motioned for us to come in.
“Actually, we’ve got somewhere we have to be. But I’ll see you guys later.” He gave his parents and sisters a smile.
“Make it more often; we miss you around here,” Becky said, no shame in admitting that she missed her older brother.
I grinned. In a way, she kind of reminded me of myself. Maybe that is why I like her so much. It would make sense.
“I’ll try to stop around more often. I miss you guys too, but work has been busy.”
“We hear all about how hard dad works you.” Her eyes sparkled as Adam turned and motioned for me to head for the door.
As soon as we were outside, I kind of wanted to go back in and see everyone again.
I bit my lip as we headed for a white car, not paying much attention to what kind of car it was as I got in. In some way, I was glad he’d gotten us out of there so quickly, but I still wanted to go back in and see everyone. This sucks. I actually really like his family, I thought. I finally find this really cool family and this really sweet guy and … it’s all fake. And he’s not actually sweet. He’s an ass who is just pretending to be sweet so I’ll pretend to be his girlfriend for some odd reason.
I thought about the way he reacted when we saw that guy, Kurt. It was like something shifted completely in him. I glanced over at him. He looked okay now. But I still wasn’t so sure that he was actually okay with everything.
“So, what now?” I asked after clearing my throat.
He glanced over at me and smiled, but he didn’t say a word before turning back to the windshield and paying attention to where we were going.
“Now, maybe we’ll finally get a couple pictures of us together.”
“Sounds good.”
Was he planning on going back to the fair and risking running into Kurt? Or were we going to go somewhere else?
He had made it sound like we had plans, but maybe that was just because he didn’t want to stay and have tea with his parents. Either way … it was starting to get late, and I didn’t want to be out all day. I wanted a chance to do a little relaxing over the weekend.
I still had to do the shopping and make sure I put the laundry in, not to mention tidy the house, and I was getting tired just thinking about it. I blew out a deep breath as he turned away from the downtown core.
“Are you going to go out with my mom and sister at the weekend?”
His question took me off guard. “Do you want me to?”
“It’s not about what I want. Although, I would pay for it, of course.”
I bit my lip. Logging a little overtime at the weekend would be ideal, but the idea of going out for a girls’ day was so much nicer. And I don’t need the overtime. I had extra money in the bank account. I had enough extra that I’d be okay for a while.
“I might.”
“I bet they would really like it.”
“Yea … but isn’t it a little mean? I mean, we know that the ‘relationship’ can’t go on forever. Right? So why make them think we’re actually going to last at all?”
His brow creased. I watched him, but he didn’t say a word.
“What?” I finally asked.
“Nothing. Do whatever you want,” he said without another word.
I felt guilt tug at me. Had I done something wrong? I didn’t dare ask. What is his deal? Why was he acting like this?
One minute, he was nice, and the next he just … became a total jerk.
I turned to face the window, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting. Asshole. I don’t think he realizes what a nice thing I’m doing for him right now. Clearly, he didn’t; otherwise, he would be much more grateful.
The car slowed in front of a small café, and he pulled over, parking out front of it.
“Is this where we’re going?” It looked like a tiny, family run kind of place. It looked nothing like the kind of place that we had gone to last night. This place … well, it looked more up my alley, that was for sure. I grinned as we made our way over to it. He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stop as he pulled out his cell phone. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what he was doing.
A fake smile spread over my face faster than I ever thought it could. Just in time for him to get the picture. Okay, that was done. We would only have to take a couple more, right? And then he would be done with me. But he wants me to go out with his family next weekend. I still thought it was a bad idea, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He hadn’t seemed to like it when I tried to tell him that. Anyways, it shouldn’t matter to me. It’s his family, and he’ll be the one who has to deal with it when the time comes. Guilt tugged a
t me. I knew it wasn’t a fair thing to think.
I felt Adam pull against me, guiding me into the café.
I looked around. There was no one else there.
A woman smiled from behind the counter.
“Hi!” She circled around as she reached for a couple menus. Her eyes shone. “Feel free to take a seat wherever you like.”
Adam looked at me. “Well, where do you want to sit?”
“I …” I didn’t care. But apparently, it was my choice, so I padded over to one of the windows near the door and slid into one of the chairs at the table, looking out at the street.
The girl placed a menu down beside me and one down beside Adam. She smiled widely. “I’ll get you a drink to start off, do you have a preference?”
“A bottle of wine, please,” Adam answered before I could say a word. I frowned. They serve wine here?
I glanced down at the menu, and then realized it wasn’t actually a café.
I looked down at the menu. This was supposed to be one of the nicest places in town. French restaurants were always popular in the area, and with the crisp white walls and French photography, it actually looked cute in here. And this was coming from a guy.
I glanced over at her from the corner of my eye. I couldn’t believe I’d let her see me like that earlier. I’d cried in front of her! I wonder what she thinks. No, it didn’t matter what she thought. I mean, it’s not like she would actually think any worse of me, would she?
No, of course not. She’s not like that. I should have known better than to even wonder something like that. I should know her better than that, and I should have more faith in her.
I glanced up from my menu as I saw some people make their way toward the restaurant. They looked at the door, then at us and back at the door. I smirked, watching them try to piece it together as I looked back down at my menu.
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 39
