Line: Alpha Billionaire Romance

by Colleen Charles

  Matthew choked a laugh and clapped his hands together. “Did she ever tell you why we broke up?”

  “Matthew, enough!” Allegra shrieked.

  I glanced in her direction. Why was she so worried about Matthew’s words? Hell, I could see why they broke up. Any woman who could handle his bullshit for more than a couple of weeks had mental issues. Allegra had nothing to be ashamed of.

  “We broke off our engagement because her oven doesn’t work right. And not this one.” Matthew laughed as he kicked her apartment oven with his booted toe. “Yeah, she’s barren. Sterile. Worthless as a woman.” After he shot the foul words out of his mouth, he just stood there grinning.

  “Stop,” Allegra cried, and her voice broke. One lonely tear escaped her eyelid and ran in a tiny rivulet down her cheek. I’d never wanted to punch another man in the face more than in this moment. He’d just made her cry. “Just stop it.”

  Matthew wouldn’t quit while he was ahead. “Yeah, that’s right, you rich bastard,” he poked again like he might do to a sleeping bear. “I fucked your precious little girlfriend for months. With my ring on her finger. Probably better than you. But no way would I ever allow some infertile skank become my wife. So I cheated a couple times, then I kicked her to the curb, just to teach her a lesson.” He turned his smug smile on Allegra. “You shouldn’t overreach.”

  Allegra’s skin turned alabaster. “You cheated?” She shook her head and her mouth dropped open, more tears falling to join their lonely counterpart. “You cheated on me because of that? And then you left me.”

  “That’s right, and now you’re with this fuck head. It’s so ironic,” he took a breath and pointed at me. I felt a growl of rage bubble up. One I wouldn’t be able to contain for more than a few more seconds. This scene was playing out like a tragedy. “You knocked up Faith Callahan, socialite extraordinaire and now you’re slumming with a woman who can’t give you what Faith already has.” Matthew guffawed again, though his forehead was slick with sweat. "The only thing that could make this better would be Alanis Morissette standing here singing it."

  That was it. I charged forward and just when I had a handful of his cotton shirt, he turned and started running. The shirt gave way, and I was left standing in the middle of Allegra’s kitchen holding a large scrap of white and blue plaid from The Gap.

  “I can explain,” she whispered as her knees gave out and she fell into a heap on the floor. I sank down next to her and enveloped her in my warmth.

  “You don’t have anything to explain,” I soothed against her ear, raining kisses down on her flushed face. “That isn’t something you should have to disclose to someone you haven’t known that long.”

  “Really?” Her eyes met mine. Questioning. Searching.

  What kind of an asshole was I that she had to look up at me in that expectant way as if I’d leave her over something so stupid? What kind of asshole was Matthew? I couldn’t even imagine the fallout from Allegra’s time with him. One thing was certain. He’d pay.

  And I was the perfect man for the job.

  Chapter 32

  Ally

  I walked across the street and clutched my coat to my chest to ward off the frigid air. A mother with two children met my gaze and smiled. The little boy, around two, batted his eyelashes and flirted. Staring into my eyes and then looking away. I loved kids so much, but the wound of the previous night was still so raw, I just wanted to get away from the sweet toddler.

  I’d spent another Christmas alone since Kelly and Pat had traveled to Madison to be with her extended family. As a kid, I’d loved the season, because it was the only time my mother could peel herself away from her latest fuck to spend time with me. Until she hit the eggnog. She’d hang mistletoe and bring out a gift, specially wrapped by Macy’s in vibrant gold foil with a red velvet bow. Those precious Christmas gifts were the only things I ever received from her. I still had the Sega Game Gear she’d splurged on in 1991.

  I’d always unwrap it as I sat under the tree, inhaling the lush, evergreen scent. I still loved a live tree more than anything, even if I couldn’t afford one or drag it up to my tiny apartment. Let alone have a place to put it up and decorate it. The unwrapping of my solitary gift was always the best part.

  I cleared my throat and kicked at a snow drift. My mom called from prison on Christmas Day. Collect. I’d denied the call, unwilling to accept the charges.

  “Are you going to stand out there all day?” Kelly called from the doorway of her coffee shop. “I’ve got a hazelnut cappuccino with your name on it.” She paused and giggled once. “No seriously, Allygator’s written in Sharpie on the cup and it’s getting cold.”

  “I’m coming,” I answered with a wave as I trudged through the snow and slid through the door.

  “Who peed in your porridge?” Kelly asked, then beckoned me to join her behind the counter.

  “Ew, gross reference,” I replied. “I’ll tell you about it in your office, if you’ve got a minute.”

  “For you? Anytime.” Kelly waved to her husband, Pat, and he nodded and winked at her.

  They were such a perfect couple, it actually hurt. Maybe not perfect but perfect for each other and that’s all any self-loving woman could hope for. I’d fantasized that I might get my happy ending too. Turned out I was delusional.

  Kelly pushed into the office and waited for me to enter, then shut the door behind me and shoved the cappuccino into my hand. “All right, spill it. What’s going on? I’ve kind of been expecting you.” She demanded with a laugh.

  “Gabe,” I said, by way of explanation. “Actually, it’s more Matthew this time.”

  “I thought that might be the case after that last showdown at the OK Corral, also known as my place of business. You were the one who didn’t want to get involved and now you’ve got them both eating out of the palm of your hand. Of course, one is a peacock and the other’s a vulture,” Kelly said, nudging me with a wink. She’d never liked Matthew. Now, I started to wonder if anyone liked Matthew. God, I’d been such an idiot in my past choice of men.

  “I’m fed up with both of them. Okay, that’s a lie. I’m only semi fed up with Gabe and his boyfriend bi-polar disorder. I want him like crazy, even though I shouldn’t.” I scratched my forehead at the base of my hairline, then slipped out of my coat and dumped it over the back of one of the chairs. I deliberately left out the part about the crazy good sex in my kitchen. “Am I crazy to be so upset?”

  “Ally, you just called Gabe your boyfriend. Please go back and start at the beginning. You know I’ll be honest if I think you’re being crazy.” Kelly moved to perch on the end of the desk and tilted her head to one side. “Tell me the truth and don’t sugar coat it.”

  “I never told Gabe that Matthew and I had been serious, or that I can’t get pregnant. He found out last night.”

  Kelly’s face paled. “Matthew told him? Were you there?”

  “Yeah.” I told her about him crashing in my apartment like a crazy person, scaring me half to death then pissing Gabe off to the point that my fireman savior had taken a run at my ex. How he’d destroyed a perfectly good evening. Like he always destroyed everything.

  “You seriously need to take a restraining order out against that irrational stalker. That kind of harassment is illegal. Cop or no cop. Actually, it’s even worse because he’s in law enforcement. Whatever happened to protect and serve?” Kelly sipped from her own cup of coffee and shook her head. “I’m sure you could get one.”

  “I doubt it. Who would believe me? I mean, there’s no proof that he’s been harassing me. No texts or calls or anything. It’s just him, showing up whenever he likes and making me and Gabe miserable. I think he’s trying to harass Gabe into physically assaulting him so he can get Gabe fired. Or worse. I guess I never realized that a police officer could be so corrupt. It reminds me of that movie, Safe Haven.”

  “I guess,” she said, scratching her head. “Do you really think Matthew’s behavior would escalate to the point th
at he’d try to harm you? Or, Gabe?”

  “I think it could. But who really knows. He seems completely off the rails. After Matthew ran out, missing a chunk of his cheap button down, Gabe just left and he —” I broke off and tried to swallow past the lump in my dry throat, “he hasn’t answered any of my calls.” I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “Things were going so well. So well that I thought maybe I could be more than a friend and trust him again, but now …”

  Kelly tapped her teeth with the edge of her cup. “This isn’t making any sense. Like there’s more to the story. Something else he’s not telling you.”

  “I know. My gut tells me something isn’t right.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Kelly asked, narrowing her eyes.

  I lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure. I need to talk to Gabe but I can’t do that if he’s avoiding me. I wonder why he’s avoiding me?” I asked with a grimace.

  “Well, I’m going to pray for some closure for you. You’ve been all over the place since Gabe came into your life. You need to get your head right so you can focus on the bakery. I have a feeling about that place. In fact, all of the cupcakes you gave us to sell here flew off the shelves in record time, as well as all your business cards. People can’t seem to get enough of them. And that makes Pat really happy.”

  “That’s so exciting,” I said and couldn’t help but give Kelly a quick hug in celebration of our joint success. “The bakery’s doing really well and business has been picking up each day. I even have some special orders for winter weddings. I’m so glad that trend for an individual cake for each wedding guest took off like wildfire. If it continues, my summer is going to be explosive. I stopped long enough to take a sip of the cappuccino. “Oh my god, this is good. Have you ever thought about selling one or two of your specialty coffees in the bakery? I know my customers would love it. Especially, my bridge club ladies.”

  “Extra hazelnut syrup and real organic cream from my home state,” Kelly said with another wink. “I figured you’d need a little extra pick me up for our chat. By the way, that’s a great idea about the coffee. How about I talk it over with Pat and get him right on it? I’m sure he could bring over a large urn every morning with a different flavor. We could drive business to each other since the two stores complement each other so well.”

  I blushed and bowed my head. “You’re right. Let’s focus on business. I’m behaving like a child over this guy. Not the savvy, self-sufficient woman I am.”

  “I don’t blame you because he’s sexy as hell. First time I saw him, I wanted to lift up his shirt and lick …” Kelly licked the foam off the top of her cup suggestively, then chuckled. “It will all work out in the end. Have faith.”

  “You did not just do that.” I grabbed her in a one-armed hug and rested my head against hers for a second. “In spite of your suggestive play on words, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “You’d be seriously lacking in the cappuccino department. And that, sister, would be a tragedy.”

  I laughed with her, but I couldn’t kill the creeping dread in my stomach at the mere thought of losing Gabe. Before I even actually had him. “I’d better get back to the bakery. Work to do.”

  We shared another quick hug and I was out of the coffee shop and into the cold street a few minutes later. I grasped the cappuccino in my leather gloves and looked at my bakery just a block down the street, my dream come true. Then I reached into my pocket and brought out my phone.

  I stared at the screen for two minutes as I sipped Kelly’s addictive brew. Blank. Nada. What was wrong with him? What else was he hiding? Then I swept my cold thumb across the screen and searched for Gabe’s number. I dialed and pressed the phone to my ear.

  My stomach leapt at the sound of ringing on the other end.

  But he didn’t pick up.

  Chapter 33

  Gabe

  I sat in my living room, swigging from a bottle of beer and staring at the brown water mark beneath the line of the ceiling against the wall. Piece of shit condo. I could tap into my trust fund and get something better. But I wouldn’t. I didn’t want anything I hadn’t earned myself. Anything purchased with his dirty money.

  No, I’d chosen this apartment because it was far away from my father and close to work and the guys at the fire station. Real down-to-earth people. People who actually cared about me.

  Allegra had called and texted multiple times. I was avoiding her. I didn’t know what the hell to say to ease her pain. The rash of tears had reduced me to a quivering puddle, terrified to tell her the whole sordid truth. Even though I knew I was close to losing what I’d never actually had, I couldn’t reach out. The pain of the finality of her telling me to ‘fuck off’ felt worse than the pain of ignoring her.

  Faith had introduced me to a world of mistrust and looking over my shoulder. A world where I didn’t like how I behaved. Even the man that I was. What with all the randoms floating around her, leeching off her, I’d started to become wary of everyone. But in the past … the desire to win my dad’s approval and love had outweighed the suffering of simply being with Faith. No more.

  “Damn,” I felt like I’d been punched in the gut again so I leaned back and sank deeper into the leather sofa cushions.

  A loud rap at the door jolted me from my self-recriminations. Who the hell was knocking at the door and hadn’t called first? I rose from the sofa, set my beer on a coaster and looked through the peephole.

  Shit.

  Another knock rattled the door and whoever it was on the other side tried the door handle. Stalk much? She must have heard noise on the inside so she wasn’t going away without the face-to-face confrontation she’d came for. Well, she’d get what she was after.

  “What do you want?” I asked as I swung the front door wide and allowed her to step inside the foyer. Jesus. Didn’t this woman have any maternity clothes that fit her? Club wear didn’t look attractive on someone at the end of pregnancy. I was surprised George let her run around in public with her tits hanging out and her pregnant belly exposed.

  “You aren’t happy to see me,” she smirked as she waltzed into the living room uninvited and sank down on my couch. Right next to my open beer bottle. “Can you get me a bottle of water, Gabe?”

  “What do you want?” I repeated, making no move to go to the kitchen and do her bidding.

  “Are you seriously going to let a heavily pregnant woman go without water?” She crinkled her eyes and glared at me. Let her stare herself into oblivion. I’m not her lackey.

  “Yes.”

  “Come on, sweetheart, we need to talk,” she ignored my slight, then patted the cushion beside her. She glanced around the condo and then turned up her nose at the lack of professionally done décor. I’d been to her place once to pick her up and George had spared no expense in setting up his daughter to live a spoiled life of leisure and ennui.

  “What are you doing here, Faith? I’m not in the mood.” I gritted my teeth, picked up my beer and chose the recliner. Alone.

  “We need to talk about the paternity test.”

  “It wasn’t a request,” I said, “I have every right to ask for a paternity test and I will get one.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “I beg to differ and so does your father. He knows what’s good for you and that’s me,” she patted her chest, splaying her fingers which sparkled with a massive Cartier ring. A leopard with green emeralds for eyes and spots of glittering diamonds. That damn thing cost four times my annual salary.

  “My father can get fucked,” I announced as I took another long sip, needing the alcoholic fortification simply to deal with her bullshit. Then the ring caught my eye again. “Who did you have to spread your legs for to get that ring, Faith?”

  Faith’s mouth twitched at the corners. “As sexy as you are when you’re deliberately rude, I know that’s not the real Gabe. The sweet nerdy, math whiz that I fell in love with back in high school. Remember, before you became the star of the football
team? You would have been rimming the toilet with an epic swirly if it wasn’t for me. I saved you, Gabe.”

  What did she want, a damn medal? Maybe a spotlight and streamers?

  I finished the last sip and then slammed the bottle down. “I’m not going to marry you because my father told me to.”

  “Why not?” Faith pouted. “We’ve been together for years. You’re not the same man without me. Just look at how negative, emotional and surly you’ve become since you started sleeping with that white trash whore.”

  You’re right, Faith. I’m not the same man because of you. You make me worse. A shell of the confident, proud and loyal man I was before I made the mistake of fucking you. Fucking my friend.

  “Don’t say another word about Allegra. Don’t even speak her name or I’ll throw you out into the hallway, pregnant or not.”

  She cleared her throat and scooted forward on the cushion, gripping the bottom of her belly. “This baby, your baby, needs a father.”

  “If that’s my baby, he’ll have a father.”

  Faith gave a triumphant grin.

  “But, you will not have a husband. At least, I won’t be your husband.”

  Faith’s face fell, her mouth went slack for a moment, then tightened up again. She leaned towards me and reached over to grasp my forearm. I couldn’t sink back any further into my recliner without tipping it backward and ending up in a heap on my area rug. She ran the pads of her fingers over the light hairs on my arm. Her touch made me want to blow chunks. “Gabe, be serious for a second. Think of the money we could make out of this. Your father —”

  “You’re a shameless bitch. How can you think for one second I would prostitute myself for my father’s money? That I would put my own son in the same position that I’ve been in for years? Nothing that’s mine will ever be beholden to that bastard,” I used my calm but deadly serious tone as I rose from the chair and went to stand at the floor to ceiling windows. This condo and the amazing view, one of the only luxuries I still allowed myself on my fireman’s salary. I couldn’t hear any sounds behind me and hoped she’d decided to take that as her cue to leave. But when I glanced over my shoulder, Faith still sat there. Immobile.