The Billionaire’s Second Chance: A Small Town Romance

by Weston Parker

  My head snapped back and I couldn’t stop blinking. Obviously, Will was going to stick up for me any second. He had to.

  The guy I knew wouldn’t let her say those things about me without saying a word in my defense. Angelina took a step back to cast a critical eye around the room. I didn’t have to know her to know she wasn’t impressed by what she saw even though this was a really nice hotel.

  “What has she got to offer you? A life in run-down dumps in places that aren’t even a blip on a map? Even my travel agent had to look up how to get here.” Her lips curled in disgust. “That Anna girl is just like this place. Stuck in the past with no hope of ever making it out.”

  Tears stung my eyes, and I steadied myself against the pillar. Surely, Will was going to say something to defend me and this place from her harsh words.

  Only, he didn’t.

  His gaze flickered down to her left hand, where a ring with a rock the size of Gibraltar took up residence on a very important finger. “You’re still wearing your ring.”

  “Of course, I am, silly. I’m in love with you. I want to marry you. A few weeks ago, you said the exact same thing to me. Isn’t that what you want?”

  He didn’t answer her, not even to deny what she’d said. His expression remained stone-faced, but Angelina didn’t seem fussed by it at all.

  “Stop playing house with your doe-eyed little afterthought girlfriend and come home with me where I can take care of you the way you deserve. You know you want me, William. If she was your high-school girlfriend, then you could’ve had her all this time you’ve had me, but you didn’t go running to her until now.”

  His long fingers wrapped around a tumbler with clear liquid in it that the bartender had slid in front of him just when I’d arrived. Eyes never leaving hers, he lifted it up and slammed back the contents in one gulp.

  “How can I trust you?”

  I blinked hard, almost sure that I was stuck in a bad dream until I pinched my arm and almost yelped at the resulting pain. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

  Will hadn’t defended me. He hadn’t told his snake in the grass of a fiancée to pound sand. Why was he even giving her an inch to explain herself?

  It all became clear to me in that moment. This really had all been to get to her. Maybe he hadn’t planned on Angelina finding us here, this weekend, but I didn’t need to hear any more to know he’d only been biding his time with me while he waited for her to come begging. He probably even would’ve slept with me—again—just to get his rocks off and another little stab in at her while he was at it.

  His career probably hadn’t even factored into it for him at all. Jessie might’ve been worried about that, but I was looking at Will’s motives right now. She wore a gorgeous dress and heels I wouldn’t even have been able to walk in.

  Fury like I’d never felt before swept over me, burning away the tears and leaving nothing but destruction and devastation in its wake.

  Enough. I’ve heard enough.

  Storming out from behind my pillar like I had hellhounds on my tail, I slammed the ring down next to his empty glass. I didn’t want to look at it ever again and be reminded of this weekend. Fuck that for a terrible joke.

  “I’ve made your decision for you. Go back to LA with your cruel, vain, and horribly beautiful fiancée.” His green eyes blew wide open, but I cut him off before he could open his mouth too. “Good luck, Will. Next time you’re in town, stay the hell away from me.”

  Seething as I turned on my heel to run out, the last thing I heard was Angelina laying into Will about giving me a ring.

  Good. Those two deserve each other. I only hoped she didn’t let him off easy. As vile as she was, he certainly gave her a darn good run for her money.

  Chapter 29

  WILLIAM

  “You got her a ring? Are you insane?” Angelina was seething quietly enough not to draw too much attention but with a vehemence in her voice meant to tear me a new one. I was vaguely aware of her ranting, but I tuned it out as I watched Anna disappear around the corner.

  She was headed in the direction of the front doors. The realization that she was really leaving made me emerge from the thick fog I’d been trapped in since Angelina’s surprise appearance. I finally thudded back to reality, and the pieces of what had just happened clicked into place.

  “Shut the fuck up for a minute, would you?” I snapped before jumping up, swiping Anna’s ring off the bar, and rushing after her.

  People swerved out of my way when they saw me barreling toward them, but by the time I made it outside, she was already gone. Several cabs were pulling away from the hotel and she could have been in any one of them.

  “Fuck,” I spat, bringing my hand up to swipe my forehead with the back of it while keeping a lookout for her blonde ponytail. Just in case.

  My heart was galloping in my chest, sweat running down my spine and from my temples even though the dash out here hadn’t been strenuous. No, the sweat had nothing to do with running and everything to do with Anna and what had just gone down.

  I need to find her. Frantically shoving my hand into my pocket to pull out my phone, I dialed her number while continuously scanning the crowd. She didn’t answer, so I tried again. And then again.

  What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck?

  The look in her eyes when she’d slammed that ring down… I’d never forget it. We’d been through a lot together, but I’d never seen those hazel eyes flashing with so much agony—or so much rage, for that matter.

  My stomach contracted violently, my heart now pounding so hard it actually hurt. I’d felt the blood draining from my face as soon as she’d marched up to us, but I was only now starting to feel faint and hearing that rushing sound in my ears.

  Pacing in front of the hotel like a newly caged lion, I tried to figure out what could’ve led to her reacting the way she had. Angelina had been spewing such filth that I hadn’t even justified it with a response, but Anna had been upstairs in the bath anyway, so she couldn’t have heard any of it.

  Well, obviously, she did. Moron.

  Even so, she had to know that I didn’t agree with anything Angelina had been saying. It’s fine. Just find her. Explain.

  I shook my head, trying to clear it by dragging in one deep breath after another. What would I even explain to her? That I’d been trying to have a long-overdue discussion with Angelina when she marched in out of nowhere? I couldn’t tell her she’d misunderstood what she heard, especially not since I didn’t even know what that had been.

  Fuck. Clenching my hair in my fist, I didn’t stop pacing while trying to get through to her again. Straight to voicemail. She’d be heading back to Mackinac. At least I knew that much.

  But in the middle of the night with some random cab driver? Bile pushed up my throat as I sent up prayers to whoever might be listening that she got there safely. The ride was going to end up costing her a fortune, too.

  I’d have to find a way to reimburse her, but that was going to be a challenge of its own. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Jessie was going to kill me. Dead with a capital D and a gleeful laugh when she slit my throat. Strangely, I couldn’t even bring myself to care. I’d take whatever wrath my sister wanted to dish out for this, and I’d deserve every ounce of it and more.

  Before she could kill me, I needed to get back to the island myself. I’d check on Anna, make sure she got home okay, try to explain, and if she wouldn’t hear me out tonight, I’d go back tomorrow.

  “There you are, darling.” Angelina’s voice grated on my last nerve. Then some-fucking-how, it got even worse.

  I hadn’t noticed them before, but a group of reporters stood near the corner. They must have tracked us here earlier, and I’d gotten lucky that they hadn’t seen me as soon as I’d set foot outside. It was the one and only stroke of random luck, that I got to have a couple of minutes outside without being mobbed.

  With Angelina’s loud voice carrying in the air, my luck ran out. The paparazzi he
ard her, which I was sure had been her intention, and raced toward us like badgers in heat.

  They hurled questions at us, blinding me with their flashes as Angelina wrapped an arm around mine and stepped closer to my side. The two of us together drew in an even bigger crowd, with more reporters appearing like ants from the side streets and down the block. There seemed to be even more of them than there had been earlier, but paparazzi tended to multiply like rabbits after someone first got spotted.

  Angelina posed for photos and smiled, resting her head on my shoulder and keeping a possessive grip on my arm. She raised her free hand like she was the goddamn queen, shooting the reporters a teasing little grin that always got them eating out of the palm of her hand.

  “We can only take one question at a time, guys.” She giggled, then flicked her wrist toward a large man in the center of the crowd. “You, go.”

  “Are you guys back together?” he asked, and I suppressed an eye roll. Of course, that was what he wanted to know.

  That’s what they all want to know.

  Angelina, like the media-trained star she was, turned to nuzzle my shoulder before nodding. “We’ve worked everything out. There have been a few bumps in the road, but true love always finds a way, doesn’t it?”

  “Are you still getting married?” A different guy shouted his question.

  She giggled again, peering at him from beneath those lashes. “Of course. We’re engaged, aren’t we? We’re back on track to planning our wedding and we couldn’t be more excited. You all will be getting the details real soon.”

  Wait. What?

  No. No. No. No. This was not good.

  I opened my mouth, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make my career go up in smoke, but nothing immediately came to mind.

  I was fucking reeling. I really needed to get away from the press and have a minute to myself to deal with all this, but Angelina was having none of that. She was still clinging to me, living for the attention as she gave her impromptu little press conference.

  Out of fucking nowhere, her hands landed on my cheeks and pulled my head down, kissing me in full view of every journalist and camera there. Motherfucker.

  I didn’t want any part of this, and I pulled back. She literally dug her nails into me, holding me in place. I couldn’t escape unless I physically shoved her away, and the media would rake me over the coals for that.

  I didn’t know how to handle this without looking like the asshole. I just need a fucking minute!

  Angelina wasn’t the only one who knew how to play this game, though. She’d gotten the upper hand tonight because I was shocked as shit, but I wouldn’t stand here listening to her being the sweetheart after she’d just blown up my relationship with Anna.

  Fake relationship. This is what it was all about, isn’t it? Angelina was here, claiming me in front of the entire world, the press loved us again, and I should feel lucky to be heading back to LA with her.

  I didn’t feel lucky. Not at fucking all.

  Besides, it wasn’t only the fake part of the relationship Angelina had ruined. First and foremost, Anna was my friend, and she was hurt.

  Which was exactly what I hadn’t wanted to happen.

  I stared into Angelina’s blue eyes, making sure a warning darkened my own before I brought my mouth to her ear. “I’m going inside now. Don’t try to stop me.”

  Always the perfect actress, she put her hand to her heart and laughed, putting on a show for the cameras as I gave them my usual bored stare before taking off. I heard her tittering, telling them that they knew how prickly I could be. My teeth ground together when I heard her using the term “shy.” Everyone and their mothers knew I wasn’t fucking shy. I just didn’t want to have to deal with her bullshit right then.

  Once I was inside, I blew out a heavy breath and dragged both hands down the sides of my face while I waited for the elevator. What a clusterfuck.

  Just as the doors were closing behind me, a French-tipped hand slid in between them and they opened to reveal my supposed fiancée. She popped a hand on her hip, not bothering to acknowledge me as her eyes surveyed the inside of the elevator car.

  “Really, William, could you not have chosen better accommodations for us for this evening?” She pursed her lips, completely ignoring the fact that I hadn’t chosen this accommodation for us.

  “You’ll live,” I said curtly, gripping the railing behind me while I tried to get my thoughts together.

  She released a long-suffering sigh but kept her comments to herself as we walked down the carpeted corridor to the room I was supposed to have been sharing with Anna. I felt like I was punched in the gut when I saw her overnight bag still sitting on one of the beds, open and looking like it was waiting for her to come back to slip into her pajamas at any moment.

  I’ll have to bring it home for her. Maybe leave it with Jessie.

  Bone-deep exhaustion overtook me, making it difficult to keep my eyes open. My heart throbbed painfully even though, technically, I had just gotten everything I’d thought I wanted. What’s that old adage again? Oh yeah. Be careful what you wish for ‘cause you just might get it.

  A humorless chuckle slid out of me, and Angelina spun around with her hands on her hips. “Oh, I see. This room is a joke. That makes more sense.” She smiled and held her arms up to her sides. “You really had me going for a minute there, William. Where are we really sleeping?”

  “Here.” I dared her to come at me again with my eyes narrowing on hers.

  Angelina was smarter than that, though. And as much as I hated to admit it, she knew me. Instead of carrying on with her snooty critique of the room, she simply raised her shoulders and batted her lashes at me.

  “Leave it to me, darling. I’ll go downstairs and demand an upgrade. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled we’re staying for the night. They’re sure to have something more suitable for us.”

  She waved her fingers before heading for the door and let it slam shut behind her. When she was gone, I walked into the room Anna had chosen to get changed in, and sank down on the bed next to her bag.

  Burying my face in my hands, I shook my head over and over again. What have I done?

  If I’d really gotten what I wanted, why did I feel like absolute shit?

  Chapter 30

  ANNA

  Sunday morning saw me reverting back to being a pitiful heap of a girl who could barely leave her bed. Not even the allure of my routine could convince me to leave the comfort of my covers.

  My curtains were drawn, and as if the weather itself were mourning right along with me, the sky I saw peeking out from the between the cracks was gray and miserable. I’d spent the entire morning crying over a boy for the first time since I was eighteen years old, and I felt like a complete idiot that I was doing it over the same man who had caused it before.

  Apparently, I hadn’t grown nearly as much as I thought I had. I was still the same girl, heartbroken over the same boy and not knowing what she was supposed to do without him.

  Sure, tomorrow morning, I would get up and go to work instead of skipping school to cry some more, but it appeared my personal development hadn’t been nearly as impressive as I’d have liked to think. All because of William fucking Kent.

  A part of me wondered if he’d done all of this to get back at me for hurting him all those years ago. It seemed like a nasty, petty thing to do, but after hearing what I had from his fiancée, I was starting to think that maybe folks from LA were just naturally cruel. It’d been a mistake for me to think William was still Will from Mackinac Island.

  He was producer William Kent now, and he and his LA ways could go straight to hell. The boy I’d loved once was gone, and in his place was a poser who wore his face but would never be able to live up to my memories of him.

  Maybe I was partly responsible for what’d happened. In more ways than one. It was even possible that I was at least partially to blame for this person who he’d become. I was the one who’d cut hi
m loose so he could go to LA, after all.

  But that was as far as I’d accept responsibility. Who he’d become once he’d gotten there? That was his own darn fault. Well, his and that god-awful fiancée of his.

  A knock at my door made me jump. I hadn’t changed out of my pajamas yet, my hair was tied up in a ratty knot on top of my head, and yesterday’s mascara still stained my cheeks.

  There wasn’t a single person in the world I wanted to speak to or see right now. But then I heard my best friend’s voice coming through the door.

  “I know you’re in there, Anna,” she called. “Open up. Please? I spoke to that asshole who calls himself my brother. He told me what happened.”

  Fresh tears jumped into my eyes, and I wiped my already sore nose with a tissue. Heartbreak sucks.

  Anybody who had never been through it might think it was only the heart that hurt after, but that was wholly inaccurate. It was an entire body ache that ran so deep it infected the soul. My eyes, nose, chest, and muscles were all in physical pain, but that was nothing compared to what was going on inside.

  Jessie’s face fell when I opened the door for her. She catalogued my whole being in a matter of seconds, then threw her arms around me and held me close. “That complete and utter jerk-wad. I’m so sorry, Anna. He called me and told me firsthand what happened.”

  “I’m okay.” I sniffed and squeezed her before letting her go. “Heartbroken. Again, but I’ll be okay. It’s my own fault anyway.”

  “What are you talking about?” She walked around me to dump a bag of groceries on my counter and handed over a takeout coffee. “Drink that. I’ll make us something to eat.”

  I wasn’t hungry, but I knew I had to eat. I couldn’t even remember when my last meal had been. I only knew it’d been with Will.

  As shitty as I felt, I wouldn’t allow this to break me. My heart, sure. Me? No way, Jose.

  That night when we’d slept together, I’d told him he didn’t have the power to break me. I’d meant it then. All I had to do now was prove it was true.