Billion Dollar Man

by Ali Parker

  When Ben still didn’t say anything, I looked at him. He was staring out at the ocean, his dark hair tousled by the wind, and he looked handsome and rugged. I hated the divide between us.

  “Mila,” Ben said, turning his eyes to me and they were the same color as the ocean and just as deep. “I’m not mad.”

  “But you were,” I said. “In the apartment. You were so angry.” I felt tears threatening again, and I struggled to breathe, my throat was so tight.

  “I know. I was shocked. Jerrod had jumped that on me in the worst possible way. But I understand why you didn’t tell me.”

  “You do?” I asked. He was being so nice. I hadn’t expected this at all.

  Ben nodded. “It’s a lot to take in. Especially considering everything else. I’m sorry I got so angry.”

  I shook my head. I was very close to breaking down in tears again. When Ben put his arm around me and pulled me against him, I couldn’t stop them. Yet another round of tears spilled onto my cheeks.

  “I want you to know something,” Ben continued.

  “What?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I looked up at him. “What?”

  “You heard me,” he said. “I’m not leaving to go to New York. I’m not going to leave you here alone to take care of everything by yourself. I’ll be here, and we’ll have this baby together.”

  I shook my head. I struggled to understand what had just happened.

  “But what about your company?” I asked.

  “I’ll take care of it. I can run it from here. I’m the boss. I get to call the shots like this.”

  I didn’t ask him about the mafia and the money that was still outstanding. I didn’t have to. Ben seemed to know what I was thinking about.

  “I’ll take care of everything. We won’t be in danger,” he said. “No one is going to come after us again, and our child won’t be in any danger. I’ll keep you safe. Both of you.”

  I was still crying. Everything had gone from very bad to very good. But how could this be? I was almost weary to trust that it was going right.

  “What if you change your mind?” I asked.

  Ben shook his head firmly. “I’m not going to. I needed something like this to help me realize where I want to be and where my priorities lie.” He kissed me on my forehead. “You’re on the top of my list, Mila.”

  Of all the things I’d expected – the fighting, the freakouts, the pain and the stress – I hadn’t expected anything like this at all. We had gone from Ben being livid that he hadn’t known to him changing his future plans to be with me. I didn’t know what to make of it.

  “I don’t know what to think,” I said, covering my face with my hands again as if hiding away from the world would somehow make everything okay.

  “Hey,” Ben said, wrapping his fingers gently around my wrists and pulling my hands away from my face. “Look at me. We’re going to get through this together. The only thing you need to be thinking is about our future and making this work. Because I’m committed to you and I want to make this happen. I’m in love with you, Mila. I have been since I came to Portland that first time. I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t care, but I have to be honest with you, I do. I care so much I’ll give everything up for you.”

  “I am in love with you, too,” I said, and I was crying yet again. The tears never seemed to end. But this time, they were happy tears.

  Ben kissed me, his hands on my cheek and in my hair and I fell against him. He had made everything so right in such a short amount of time.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked when we broke the kiss.

  “Baby, I haven’t been surer of anything in my life.” Ben kissed me again, wrapping me in his arms, holding me so close that nothing could come between us ever again.

  When we broke the kiss, Ben didn’t let go of me. I put my head on his shoulder, and we looked out at the ocean together. This beach was our spot. We were here, together. We didn’t have everything figured out. Not by a long shot. There was still so much ahead that we would have to face – Jerrod, my parents, his mom, and stepdad. And I worried about the company, about my job when I was pregnant. There was so much to stress about. But as long as we were together, we could figure it out. We could make it happen by facing it head-on. That was all I needed.

  Now that Ben had told me he was staying, I could do this. I could get through it. I didn’t know why he had changed his mind so easily – maybe because of me being pregnant, but he had decided it so quickly – but I was happy. Happier than I had been in a long time.

  We would figure this out. Even if we had to go through all of this without Jerrod, this was what I wanted. I needed to be with Ben, and if it meant that Jerrod would never talk to us again, then so be it. He had tried to ruin things between us by telling Ben the way he had, but even that had failed. Ben and I were meant to be, and that was the end of it.

  Chapter 65

  Ben

  After Mila and I had talked on the beach, I had taken her back home so that she could get ready for her shift. Jerrod had been gone by the time we’d arrived. It was a good thing, too. I may have sorted things out with Mila, but I had been pissed off that Jerrod had done things the way he had.

  I had needed the time to cool off.

  After I had made sure Mila was okay, I had left her apartment and gone back home to have a good think about everything that happened. I’d meant what I’d said about staying with Mila. I had been a dick a couple of times, leaving Mila in a way that wasn’t right when I had only wanted to keep her safe. But with this, I wasn’t going to be the deadbeat dad. I was going to give Mila the life she deserved, and I was going to be a real father to my child.

  Nothing like what my father had been to me. And no matter how difficult things became with the company, I was going to take care of everything so that I never, ever passed along shame and debt to my kids one day the way my dad had passed them down to me. They deserved so much more, and I was in a position to make sure my child and any future children would get the best life.

  And I was going to treat Mila like my queen instead of walking out on her the way my dad had done to my mom. Now that there was a baby in the picture, Mila deserved nothing less from me.

  I was still upset with Jerrod, and I had to go talk to him. Even if he didn’t want to talk to me. I had more than enough to say to him.

  On Monday, I was sure I had thought about it long and hard enough that I could handle it calmly and maturely.

  I drove to The Cottage before it opened for the breakfast rush so that I could talk to Jerrod. I needed to speak to him without any diners around so I didn’t have to worry about how I was saying things.

  When I parked, I noticed that Miranda and Harry’s car wasn’t there. Jerrod’s truck was alone in the reserved bays. Perfect. It would be even better without an audience.

  When I walked in, two waiters were preparing the tables for diners coming in when the restaurant opened. In the kitchen, chefs were cleaning their stations.

  So, we weren’t without an audience, after all.

  I finally found Jerrod in the office behind the kitchen. He sat on top of the desk, his feet dangling, the restaurant phone pinched between his jaw and shoulder.

  “I’ll expect the driver in the morning,” he said. “You, too.” He hung up and ticked something off a list. When he looked up, he looked like he thought I was someone else. His face fell when he saw me.

  “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Yeah, awful how I don’t go away, huh?”

  Jerrod sighed, irritated. “What do you want?”

  “I want to talk about what happened yesterday. At Mila’s.”

  Jerrod groaned. “I’m working.”

  “Yeah, I see that. But you can’t ignore this forever. It’s your sister, for God’s sake. If you want to push me away as your best friend, fine. But don’t do this to her.”

  Jerrod folded his hands on his lap and offered me a bored expression. He
was going to be rude about this all the way.

  “First of all, you were a jerk for what you did to Mila. It wasn’t your place to out her like that.”

  Jerrod laughed sarcastically. “What are you doing to do about it? You’re the one that knocked her up, so I don’t see what leg you have to stand on.”

  “Don’t talk about her like that,” I said. I was getting angry quickly, my resolve to stay calm dissolving. “She’s not just your sister, it’s the woman I love you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, did you decide to do right by her, now? Are you dating her? Or are you just going to up and leave when you feel like it again? It’s easy for you to say that I shouldn’t be a jerk to her but guess who has to pick up the pieces when you leave.”

  I shook my head. My hands were clenched into fists. I had flashes again of hitting Jerrod, but I contained myself.

  “Skylar, actually,” I said. “You weren’t here for her once since all this started so don’t make it sound like you’re that much better than me.”

  Jerrod hopped off the table and came closer to me. He was itching for a fight, too. If this was what he wanted, then fine.

  “You lied to me!” Jerrod shouted. “And you fucked around with my sister behind my back. And now? Now she’s pregnant, and you think you’re too high and mighty to deal with all this shit because you’re going to go back to New York and all your women, forgetting about all the damage you caused back home like it meant nothing.”

  I grabbed Jerrod by the shirt. I was ready to climb into him. I wasn’t like that.

  Before I hit Jerrod, I caught myself. He was being a dick to me right now and he had treated Mila wrong in so many ways. But I wasn’t any better than him. I had made mistakes, too. And God knows I hurt Mila enough times. I regretted every single one of them. But I was turning over a new leaf, I was standing up and doing what was right.

  And I wasn’t going to get into a fist fight with my best friend over this, either. Something had to give – one of us had to be the bigger man.

  And it would be me.

  I let go of Jerrod’s shirt. He stumbled back, his expression surprised. Maybe he had expected me to throw the first punch. He had been ready to fight me. But I wasn’t here for that. I hadn’t come to beat up my best friend. I had only come to set the record straight.

  “She’s a great person, Jerrod. You know that. She doesn’t deserve this shit.”

  I turned around and left the office. Jerrod stayed behind, gaping. I had never been one to back down from a fight. There had been enough fights in high school that had shown Jerrod that. But this wasn’t high school, and Jerrod was like a brother to me. If I ended up with Mila, he would be a brother-in-law, in fact.

  So, I wasn’t going to go there.

  Instead, I headed back home like a good boy to seethe in private.

  After I had taken the time to calm down, I phoned Mila.

  “How are you doing?” I asked.

  “Better,” she said, and I was relieved. “I came off my shift just now. I’m going to crawl into bed for a few hours.

  “Have you told your parents yet?” I asked, saying what was on my mind.

  “I haven’t,” Mila said softly. I had expected as much. It had been hard for her to handle it so she hadn’t told anyone. I assumed Skylar knew, though.

  “I was thinking maybe we should do it together,” I said. “It’s already a tough thing to do. I want to be there with you. For you.”

  “That’s amazing of you,” Mila said with a smile. “I think we should do it.”

  “When?”

  “As soon as possible,” she said. “I’m tired of hiding and being so stressed. I want everyone to know so that I don’t have to lie, and then I have my support team.”

  I agreed. It was the best way to do it. It was stressful wondering how our parents were going to react to it. I knew that Mila needed her mother through this as much as she needed Skylar and me.

  “Let’s do it later today, then,” I suggested. “We can talk to them, and then you still have the evening to recover if it goes badly.”

  “Do you think it will?” Mila asked, sounding worried.

  “No, I think your parents are going to be great. But I just want to be prepared.”

  “Yeah, I hear what you’re saying.” She thought about it for a moment. “Okay, let’s do it later. I’ll phone my parents and arrange to meet at their house before the dinner rush at the restaurant so that they can both be there without worrying. And you should bring your mom, too. So we cover it all in one go.”

  “Rather than doing it separately?” I asked.

  “Yeah, rip off the band-aid.”

  I smiled. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  When we ended the call, my stomach clenched with nerves. This wasn’t going to be easy. But it was something that needed to be done.

  Paul was still away so after we had arranged everything, I drove to the Castle residence with my mom in the car with me.

  “What’s going on?” my mom asked. “You look so tense.”

  “It’s nothing serious,” I said. That was a lie.

  “You know you can’t hide anything from me,” my mom said.

  I chuckled. “I know, Mom. That’s why we’re doing it this way.”

  “Doing what?”

  “You’ll see,” I said.

  When we arrived at the Castles, Mila was already there. She greeted me at the door with a hug before she hugged my mom, too.

  “Thank you so much for coming, Mary,” she said. “Please, come in.”

  We followed Mila to the living room where Miranda and Harry were already seated. They looked worried.

  “What’s going on?” Miranda asked. She stood to hug Mary, and the two women shrugged at each other, both admitting they didn’t know what was going on.

  Mila offered everyone something to drink.

  “Honestly, we just want you to get to the point,” Harry said. “We’ll have coffee when we can relax.”

  Mila nodded and walked to me. She sat down next to me, and I took her hand. She was trembling. I understood why. I was just as nervous.

  “I have something to announce,” Mila said after she glanced at me. She took a deep breath. The room was so silent I could hear my own heart thundering in my chest. I wondered if everyone else could hear it, too.

  “I’m pregnant,” Mila said.

  “What?” Miranda asked, shocked.

  “Are you being serious?” my mom asked.

  I watched Harry. He didn’t say anything even though his mouth had also dropped open.

  “It wasn’t exactly planned,” Mila added. “But we’re going to raise the baby. Together.”

  She glanced at me again and smiled. I smiled back at her.

  “That brings me to my announcement,” I said. “I’m not leaving to go back to New York. I’m staying right here to be with Mila and the baby.”

  Another round of surprised gasps and exclamations erupted. My mom stood up and came to me, giving me a hug.

  “I knew you weren’t your father’s son,” she said. When she let me go, she had tears in her eyes. Happy tears.

  “We’re so happy for you both,” Harry said. Miranda was also teary. She nodded, smiling through her tears.

  “Really?” Mila asked, incredulous. “You’re not angry?”

  “Of course, not,” Miranda said. “You’re an adult, you can make your own choice. You’re both working. And from what I can see, you’re going about this the right way.”

  “Besides,” Harry chipped in, “you love each other. What more do you need?”

  I looked at Mila, and she was smiling from ear to ear. This had gone so much better than I had expected. And why not? Harry was right. With love, what more did we need?

  Chapter 66

  Mila

  On Wednesday I had the day off again and had scheduled an ultrasound. Now that everyone knew about me being pregnant, it was time to meet the baby.

  Ben was with me. It made m
e less nervous, but only a little. It was crazy how tense I was about the appointment, even though everything was out in the open now. The idea that I was pregnant, that we were having a baby, was terrifying.

  It had all happened so fast. It had been mere weeks since Ben had come back to Portland for the first time and now we were starting a family together. There were nights when I was sleepless and in a fit of panic, wondering how the hell we were going to get through this. We had been a part of each other’s lives for years, but when it came down to knowing each other, we were practically strangers.

  When I was with Ben, like now, all my worries melted away. We were great together. He was so attentive now that I was pregnant, and since he had told me he was going to stay, our relationship was stronger than ever. Of course, it had only been a few days. But I was sure that nothing was going to change. We would get stuck now and then, and we would bump heads because we were both stubborn, but Ben and I were meant to be.

  When I walked into the waiting room, we announced ourselves at the reception desk before taking a seat in the chairs. The chairs were comfortable, and there were magazines on the table, everything from women’s health to raising babies and children. Ben reached for my hand and squeezed it. When I looked at him, he smiled at me, reassuring. He looked at home as if he had done this a million time.

  He was my rock. We played tag team when it came to supporting each other.

  The other women in the waiting room were in various stages of pregnancy and various ages. There were one or two that I wasn’t sure if they were pregnant or just here for a checkup, but most of the women were pregnant. It made me feel out of place and at home, all at the same time.

  “Hey, it’s going to be fine,” Ben whispered to me.

  “I know.”

  “You’re so tense. Relax, I’ve got you.”

  I couldn’t argue with him about it. I was tense. I was really nervous. It had all happened so fast, and I hadn’t seen a boyfriend or children in my near future at all. But life worked this way, didn’t it? We could plan all we wanted, but ultimately, it was about where fate led us.