Chapter 2
When Emily finally landed at home, she was exhausted but somehow she still had that spring in her step. It could have very well been because of the shopping spree she had gone on during her layover in Paris. She couldn’t wait to get home and just put them all on. She and her sister still had the crazy teenage new clothes binge. She felt strands of her hair caressing the back of her neck making her realize that somewhere between the plane and the customs desk, her hairclip had fallen off. She raked her fingers through her hair and held it back in a ponytail securing it all in a bun. But it was still not good enough. She raked her fingers through her hair again and quickly braided it. She tucked the braid in ensuring that it was well secured before she moved on in the queue. She was just about to get her passport stamped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Emily?” she heard a male voice that made her turn around.
“Yeah?” she asked turning around but as soon as she saw who had just called her name, she regretted ever being there. She was standing face to face with her sister’s ex. The same man who had given her sister so much grief. “Eli,” she said under her breath as she turned around. She stepped up to the customs agent and handed him her passport.
“Hey, Em,” he said standing behind her. “You look…good,” he said in a low voice. She turned around and forced out a cynical laugh.
“I know,” she said as she took her passport back from the agent. She was feeling a bit riled up as she walked to the baggage claim area. She was not sure what she was supposed to do. Given a choice, she knew that her sister would have probably advised her to stand down and she was struggling to keep her cool as she looked at the moving luggage but Eli was still following her.
“Hey Emily….Em…Emily please. I just want to talk to you,” Eli pleaded as he followed her. Emily rolled her eyes. She unknowingly clenched her fist around the strap of her bag and began counting down. But he was still talking. “Emily,” Eli said as he touched her shoulder again. She turned around and looked at him.
“I really have to look at this so I can see my damn bags when they get here,” she said. “What the hell do you want?” she asked trying hard not to talk back. He looked at her and took a deep long breath.
“I just wanted to apologize,” he said in a soft voice.
“You are apologizing to the wrong twin, asshole,” she said shaking her head.
Eli laughed uncomfortably.
“Wow, that’s harsh,” he said in a whisper.
She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.
“Harsh would be getting your balls under the wheel of my car and driving back and forth until they look like hash browns and then just for the fun of it, cut them off and force them down your bloody throat,” she said in a low voice before she turned around just in time to grab two of her bags from the luggage belt. She loaded them onto a trolley while Eli was looking at her obviously trying to find the right words to say in this situation. He looked at her and sighed.
“Listen, obviously you have some kind of anger towards me and I don’t blame you. I would too. But I would really like a chance to explain myself,” he said.
Emily shook her head and began walking out of the area.
“If only I had a gun right now,” she thought as she made her way out.
“Emily please,” Eli was now walking up to her, pushing his own trolley as he went on.
“I have nothing to say to you Eli and I swear if you keep on bothering me, I will become homicidal,” she said without turning around.
“Em…” Eli said as he abandoned his trolley and walked round to stop in front of hers. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Please. Just let me have twenty minutes.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Too long.”
“Okay…fifteen?”
“Ten. I’m jet lagged and tired. I just had a bloody thirteen hour…” her voice trailed off as she looked at her watch. “Fourteen hour flight,” she said. He nodded graciously and walked back to his trolley.
“Good enough. Coffee?” he asked as he pushed his trolley to where she was.
“Not good enough,” she said as she made her way out to one of the airport cafes. She walked right to a table in the middle of the café and sat down. “I’ll have a latte and a slice of red velvet please,” she said when a waiter walked up to their table.
“And you sir?” he asked.
“Just a macchiato for me,” Eli said. He looked at Emily who had her arms crossed on her chest as the waiter walked away. “I know this is weird for you…” he started. Again, Emily forced out a cynical laugh.
“What the hell is going through that stupid head of yours? Weird is when you walk in on your best friend having sex in your bed. This,” she said pointing to him and then back to herself. “This is just plain crazy,” she added matter of factly.
Eli looked at her and nodded. “Okay. I probably deserve that.”
“Probably? Try most definitely,” she said. She looked at him and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. “Why am I here, Eli? And answer knowing that the homicidal thoughts I was talking about earlier, are almost in full swing right now,” she added.
“Clearly you are not the same wonderfully friendly person I once knew,” he said. She shrugged as the waiter came back with their order. She looked up at the waiter and smiled in gratitude. Eli was surprised that the same person who had talked about homicide just minutes earlier was actually capable of smiling. The smile faded almost as immediately as it had appeared when the waiter walked away. She took a sip of her latte and then took a bite of her cake. Eli couldn’t help but wonder if she was thinking of using the fork she had in her hand as a weapon. “I know that you probably don’t want to hear anything I have to say but the truth is that I have to make things right with your sister and this is the only way I know how,” he started. Emily was staring daggers at him as she took another bite. “You know, the whole thing that went down with me and Erica…” he started before she put her hand up.
“You mean the cheating? Is that what you are going on about?”
“You don’t have to put it so bluntly,” he said in a low voice as he looked around to make sure no one had heard her.
“Well, that’s what happened, right? You just decided to go out and fuck someone else who wasn’t your girlfriend. My sister!” she was now talking in a hushed whisper. She wanted nothing more than to throw her scalding hot latte at his face.
“Emily I am really sorry but you have to understand one thing, I never, ever meant to hurt Erica, or you,” he said as he looked at her. “I never wanted to have an affair…”
“And yet you did,” Emily was now sipping on her latte as she looked at him over the rim of her cup. She put her cup down and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know what the hell we are doing here, Eli. And as soon as I am done with this delicious fresh cream red velvet slice, so are we,” she added as she took another bite. He looked at her and took a long deep breath.
“I need to see her. I need to talk to Erica, Em,” Eli said and Emily laughed. It was a long cynical laugh that almost seemed unreal. Eli looked at her as she leaned back in her chair and shook her head.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me, right?” she asked as she looked at him.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“And you are still asking these idiotic questions,” she said as she shook her head. “Listen, jackass. When you hooked up with my sister, I thought, great. She found someone who is just wonderful but then you had to go out and be like the next guy in a bad Tyler Perry movie. And honestly, it took all of me not to march over to your place and shoot you right between the eyes but right now, this thing you are trying to do is definitely going to be the end of me because so help me God, Eli, I will kill you if you so much as say her name one more fucking time,” she said before she took another bite of her cake.
“But I feel like I need closure,” Eli sighed. She raised an eyebrow and glared at him.
/> “Closure? Really? Are you the one who walked in on her with some stranger’s balls hanging out of her? Fucking no! She walked in on you humping the living daylights out of a stranger’s vagina. She is the one who needs closure Eli not you,” she said almost too annoyed. She could feel her blood pressure rising.
“But…” he started, a faraway look in his eyes as if he was trying to make up what he was saying as he went on.
“Damn it! Eli,” she said banging her hands on the table causing a scene even though she didn’t want to. “It has been so long since your stupid…whatever and honestly you have no right to anything, really. No right to talk to her, to even think of her or even the right to fucking closure. She is over you. She has moved on and I suggest you do the same,” she said as she pushed her seat back.
“Wait, what? She’s moved on? Already? But where…I’ve been trying…where is she?” he was struggling to get the words out but she was already walking away. “Emily…please, I need to know. Where is she?” he asked as he ran up to her. Emily turned around and looked at him. She was exhausted just standing there looking at him.
“Why the hell do you want to know?” she asked.
“Is she okay? Is she happy?” he asked even though she was not sure what his intentions were.
“She is happy. She has moved on and she is in love. This thing you had is dead and buried, Eli,” she added. She was about to walk away when Eli held her hand.
“But where is she? I need to see her,” he said. She rolled her eyes and yanked her hand away from him.
“Well you can’t asshole. She is in Athens,” she said before walking away.
*****
Emily was still jet lagged when she woke up three hours later and then realized what had just happened to her at the airport. She needed to give her sister a heads up.
“How the hell am I supposed to break this news to my sister?” she wondered as she splashed some water on her face. She took a long deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. She made her way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Really, Cassandra?” she wondered as she looked through the contents of her fridge. Clearly, Cassandra had taken the whole house sitting thing to another level. She grabbed a carton of milk and then got some cereal from the shelf. She poured her cereal and milk and then walked back to the bedroom. She ate it slowly and shrugged before she switched on her computer. She called Erica and waited for her to pick up.
“Hey you,” Erica said when she answered the video call.
“Hey, wait. I want to conference Cassandra in,” Emily said typing frantically.
“Okay. But you do know what time it is over here, right?” Erica asked. Emily smiled uncomfortably as she looked at her screen.
“Well, I am jet lagged and I have to tell you something,” Emily said before taking another bite of her cereal.
Erica raised an eyebrow and looked at her sister. “Em, should I be concerned?”
“Just…just chill,” Emily said.
“Hey Erica and deserter,” Cassandra said a bit too dramatically.
“Hey Cassandra. And before you continue hurling insults, I should tell you that I got you those cute black and silver peep toe Jimmy Choos you wanted since last spring,” Emily said. Cassandra put a hand over her mouth and squealed loudly. “Yeah, I knew that would shut you up.”
“So, Erica. How is everything in Athens?” Cassandra asked.
“Dark. Really, really dark,” Erica said.
“What? I thought you and that hottie were having a great time,” Cassandra said.
“Oh we are. It’s just that it’s one in the morning over here,” Erica said. Emily shrugged.
“Well, I could have waited to talk to you but clearly Miss Jimmy Choo here has something in mind,” Cassandra said.
“Yeah, Em. What’s going on? Did you have a good flight?” Erica asked.
“Yeah, the flight was awesome. I still maintain the whole Middle Eastern airlines are the best!” Emily said with a smile.
“I thought British Air was your bread and butter…and maybe Lufthansa too?” Cassandra asked.
“Oh honey, you haven’t had international treatment until you try Etihad, Emirates or Qatar,” Emily said. A smile played on Erica’s lips. “So anyway, I have to tell you guys something. It’s more your news Erica but I didn’t want to have to tell it twice,” she added.
Erica raised an eyebrow. “Like I asked before, should I be worried, Emily?”
“Well, not really except the fact that your ex knows where you are.”
“What?” Erica and Cassandra asked in unison.
“I bumped into him…or he bumped into me…at the airport. And he was going on and on about closure…” Emily started.
“Closure? He needs fucking closure?” Erica asked a bit too loudly making Daniel wake up. She put her hand on him and patted him gently before she got off the bed and walked out into the living area. “Why the hell should he get closure?” she asked as she sat down.
“See? That anger is exactly what I felt and I gave him a good tongue lash,” Emily said.
“Wait, where was he going?” Cassandra asked.
“I don’t really know. I was in the arrivals terminal. I just exploded Erica. I’m sorry,” she sighed as she looked at her sister.
“So, at what point did you decide to blab out where Erica is?” Cassandra asked. Emily looked at Cassandra’s side of the screen and rolled her eyes.
“He was really pissing me off and I had to tell him off. And rub it in his face that you had moved on,” Emily said. “And then he asked where you were and I just said it.”.
“Well, it’s not like he can just come and find me here. I mean Athens is huge,” she said softly.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cassandra said. “But there is the obvious fact that Eli has always been a psycho,” she added.
Erica sighed again. Cassandra was right. The possibility of running into Eli was very high.
“Okay, I guess we can always do a new country in a few days,” Erica said.
“Oh so we are now using the ‘we’ word,” Cassandra said with a smile. Erica smiled and nodded. “So, things are looking up, huh?”
“Things looking up is an understatement. Those two are going at it raw nowadays,” Emily said as she took another bite of her cereal. She smiled as Cassandra’s eyes grew wide and Erica’s cheeks flushed bright red.
“They are what?” Cassandra asked loudly.
“Em, that is really not something you need to tell her or anyone, for that matter,” Erica said as she looked at Emily. She rubbed her temples and shook her head.
“Are you still embarrassed? Come on, this is awesome. You guys are actually taking things to the next level,” Emily said.
“Next level? What level is that, grandkids?” Cassandra asked.
“I will kill you. Even from five thousand miles away,” Erica said looking at Cassandra’s side of the screen.
Emily smiled and shrugged.
“Well, it is obvious that you are moving at Godspeed with this guy which I very much approve from the photos Emily sent me. I mean, seriously? Can you say fifty shades of hot?” Cassandra said with a smile. Erica looked up to see Daniel walking towards her.
“I woke you up, didn’t I?” she asked as Daniel sat next to her and kissed her forehead.
“And there he is, in the flesh,” Cassandra said.
Daniel raised an eyebrow and looked at the screen.
“Daniel, Cassandra and you remember my sister,” Erica said. Cassandra was smiling a little too widely.
“Hey guys,” Daniel said with a smile.
“You know what, I will talk to you guys tomorrow. And Em, I got everything covered,” Erica said.
“Oh come on,” Cassandra started.
“One in the morning, Cassie. One in the freaking morning,” Erica said. “I love you guys,” she said and hung up before giving them a chance to say anything.
“Do I even want to know what that was about?” Daniel
asked as she held him tightly.
“My family might be a little infatuated with you,” she said as Daniel draped an arm around her. He could not help but smile when she said that. “Stop that, mister big ego,” she said as she slid her hand to his crotch.
“This is definitely better,” Daniel said with a smile.
Chapter 3
“So your sister had a date with your ex?” Daniel asked looking at Erica who shook her head.
“No, she bumped into him at the airport when she landed in Philly and he said he needed to talk so they ended up having coffee. Or at least she did and he just stared at her,” she said. She had just told him of the whole Eli and Emily meeting and Daniel was having a hard time understanding what the whole thing was about. The two were lying lazily on the bed after having brunch at the restaurant. They were initially supposed to leave and do something, maybe take in some sights but they ended up just staying in.
“So let me get this straight, your ex, the one who cheated on you wants closure?” he asked. Erica nodded and shrugged. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“I know right? The cheatee is the one who usually gets closer from the cheater,” she said matter of factly.
“You do know cheatee is not actually a word, right?” he smiled.
“Well, you got the point. So, down with that,” she said as she pulled herself up to a sitting position. She looked at him and sighed. “Do you maybe think we’ve had enough of Greece?” she asked.
He sat up and looked into her eyes. “Is that what you feel?”
“Well, if you want to stay you can…we can. I just don’t want to make you do something that you don’t want to,” she shrugged. He touched the side of her face and smiled at her.
“Everything I do with you is great, perfect. You could never make me do anything that I didn’t,” he said in a soft voice.
Passion Overseas: A Billionaire BWWM Holiday Romance Page 2