Claire and the Lady Billionaire_Book 8

by Giselle Fox

  “Just… leave me alone.”

  “Okay with me,” I said. I went back to the kitchen and started to clear up. He disappeared into his bedroom and didn’t come out for the rest of the night.

  ***

  “How’s the book?” Sabrina asked.

  I was sitting out on the front deck trying to work my way through another chapter of Superhuman Potential 2.0. John was right, it hadn’t been an easy read. I’d been around enough high-functioning individuals by that point to know poop from a golden nugget. Anton’s brand of self-help guru speak was a little hard to swallow. I closed the book and put it down.

  “I’m trying, I really am. Maybe I should pass it along to Bryce.”

  “Good idea,” Sabrina said. “The words of another pompous egomaniac might speak straight to his heart.”

  “No doubt,” I agreed. Bryce was sitting down by the water in a lounge chair that he’d dragged from the upper deck. I went inside and set the book on the counter in a place obvious enough that he would see it. Sure enough, the next time he went inside, I saw him flip through it.

  “Go ahead, I just finished it,” I said, pretending I was inside to grab another bottle of water. Bryce said nothing but took it with him back to his chair on the beach.

  “Smooth,” Sabrina said when I returned to the deck.

  And so began Bryce’s love affair with that book. Wherever he went, he carried it with him. I watched him flip through it and read parts over and over again. I heard him read it out loud to himself. I watched him disappear into the bathroom with it lovingly tucked under his arm. Wherever Bryce went, Superhuman Potential 2.0 went too. It was the greatest thing that could have happened to us on that prison of an island.

  Bryce became less surly. He even began to bathe again. On day four, he stole my razor and shaved. And on day six, something truly miraculous happened.

  “I’m making dinner tonight,” he announced.

  We all looked at one another in shock.

  “You can’t expect to last long on that pussy vegan diet of yours. If you want a real dinner, I’m making one. Eat it or starve, I don’t give a shit.” He disappeared down the steps without another word, but we knew that was about as close to a cordial dinner invitation as we would ever get.

  We watched him haul a crab trap out from under the house and then stuff what looked like a small dead animal inside as bait.

  “Do you think he killed it himself?” Sabrina asked under her breath.

  “Maybe he read it Anton’s book,” I whispered.

  Bryce disappeared under the deck again. We heard him rummaging around in the recycling. He reappeared with an armful of empty plastic water bottles. He tucked them all inside a plastic shopping bag and tied it tight to make a float for the line.

  “Smart,” Leda said, approvingly.

  We watched him haul the trap out across the beach and then drag it behind him as he swam into deeper water. Finally, he dropped it and set the water bottle float into position. For the next few hours, he waited patiently at the water’s edge; sometimes flipping through his book, sometimes staring out at the water, meditating. After a time, he busied himself by gathering fallen branches from the forest. We thought his plan was to use them for firewood until he began to lash them together with an old piece of rope. When he was finished, he had a small raft.

  “I hope, for his sake, he catches something,” Leda whispered.

  As much of a jerk as he was, we all kind of wanted to see him get the win, but maybe that had more to do with the prospect of a crab dinner. Still, Bryce had come a long way from his drunken Instagram photos.

  When he finally swam out to the trap, we all went down to the beach to watch. He dove under and was down for a long time before he surfaced. He whooped triumphantly. He used the makeshift raft to float the trap back to shore. It was teeming with crabs of all sizes.

  “They liked that bait,” Leda said. “Where did you find it?”

  “I didn’t find it; I trapped it,” he said as he pulled his cache up onto shore. He dug around inside and pulled out the small ones, throwing them back into the water. “There’s enough here for a feast,” he said looking up at us proudly.

  We offered to help him prep dinner but he declined. “This will be edible if none of you touch anything.”

  A simple, “I got this,” would have sufficed, but he couldn’t help getting his digs in whenever he could.

  When, at last, dinner was ready, he brought the mound of fresh crab out on a platter, rimmed with both fresh and lightly steamed vegetables, homemade flatbread and the most delicious smelling garlic and black pepper sauce I’d ever smelled.

  “Wow,” was all we could say.

  After many quiet minutes of stuffing our faces full of crab meat, I finally had to ask. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

  “From my mother,” he replied. “I spent a lot of summers in France.”

  I never expected Bryce to be the guy that could trap his own bait, catch his own seafood, bake his own bread, and prepare and present a meal worthy of three Michelin stars. Whether he’d summered in France or not, his hidden talent blew me away. Whether Camille couldn’t cook or simply had never chosen to, I really wasn’t sure.

  “My sister can’t cook for shit,” he said looking straight at me.

  Well… there was my answer.

  “You both have strengths,” Leda said diplomatically.

  There was no point in getting into a debate about who was better at what with Bryce, especially when we were stuck with him for another week. We were all happy to enjoy his creation with him, knowing that his return to Singapore would set him straight.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The days passed. Sabrina and I kept to our training regimen, swapping swim drills in the pool for open water laps out in the bay. Running on sand in full sun was pure torture, but my strength and endurance were improving with each day. Bryce showed interest in our morning routine from his side of the beach, watching while trying to pretend he wasn’t. Eventually, he began to work out on his own. From the small taste I’d had of Superhuman Potential 2.0, I knew that physical exercise was one of Anton’s cornerstone disciplines, and Bryce was clearly putting his money down on everything Anton was selling.

  He disappeared into his room at the same time every night and reappeared at the same time every morning. He ate and drank at regular intervals and didn’t snack in between. He meditated daily and spent hours reading his book and taking notes in the margins. At one point, I overheard him recite affirmations, and at another, it seemed he was rehearsing a speech. It was good to see, though we all somehow felt that we were watching the enemy grow stronger.

  Finally, the end of the second week came. Bryce was down on the beach sitting at the water’s edge. His initial sunburn had turned into a pretty even-looking tan. His dark hair was swept back. He wore nothing but his red and black checkered board shorts and the gold chain around his neck; pretty much the same outfit he’d lived in for a solid two weeks.

  “Hey,” I called to him from the girl’s side of the beach. I had a plate of frozen pineapple and guava chunks and had considered offering him some.

  He nodded to me and then looked back out over the water.

  “How do you like the book?” I asked. I’d never talked to him about it before and figured it was time.

  “It’s good,” Bryce replied. He was quiet for a moment and then picked up the book again, flipped it over and then put it back down on the sand beside him.

  “Do you want some fruit? I have a lot here,” I called. I held up the plate.

  “Sure,” he said.

  I got up and walked over to where he was sitting and sat down a few feet away from him, close but not too close. I placed the plate of fruit between us. “Help yourself.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “He coaches people… privately. He has a lot of big-name clients.”

  “Yeah, I saw that.”

  “That could be interesting.”
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  He looked at me and then grabbed a few pieces of pineapple. “I like the way he thinks. It’s helped me understand some things,” he said thoughtfully, looking down at the sand. “What I did was a mistake. I reacted out of anger; anger that I let get the better of my judgment. I take ownership of that, and for part of what’s been happening at Vermillion.”

  “How do you know what’s happening there?” I asked.

  Bryce looked over at me. “Just because I’m not there doesn’t mean I’m out of the loop. I will always have sources.”

  He’d also been stuck on a deserted island for two weeks and had just recently sobered up long enough to carry a conversation. Clearly, his information was outdated, but I didn’t tell him that.

  Bryce folded his legs into lotus position and sat up straight with his hands on his knees. “I know how low morale is at the office. It’s up to me to make things right.”

  This was sounding promising. “Any ideas how?”

  “It’s time for my sister to step aside. She needed to be there to help my father, but no one will ever think of her as a leader. She’s fine at what she does, she’s a hard worker, she’s pretty. Men like her for that. But… this is a man’s game and she knows it. It’s how it’s done over here. There’s no sense in fighting tradition.”

  It was classic Bryce. Just when it seemed like he was getting the point, he opened his mouth. There really was no response worth giving to that particular load of horse shit so I saved my breath. “I’m glad you like the book, Bryce, but you should probably know that Camille won’t be stepping aside for anyone. Keep the fruit plate; there’s more upstairs.” I stood up and started to walk back up to the house.

  “You see, here’s a perfect example,” Bryce called after me. “Women can’t fight. You’re all too sensitive. You walk away when things get hard.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, buddy. Just remember how we got you on this island.”

  ***

  “God! How can one person be so irritating?” I said when I got back upstairs. “I swear, he’s the absinthe of annoying.”

  “Take a breath, find your zen,” Sabrina said calmly.

  I took a breath. “Okay, I’m over it. What’s for dinner?”

  “We were just discussing this. We have fruit, vegetables, rice noodles, tofu,” Leda said. “Basically the same things we have had for dinner every night this week.”

  “Man, it’s hard to be stuck on an island with Bryce for two weeks without any beer and junk food,” I grumbled. “What were we thinking?”

  “Amen, sister,” Sabrina said. “Just think how good that Brodie’s will taste when we get home.”

  “Home,” I moaned. “I miss Camille.”

  “I miss…” Sabrina blurted but then abruptly stopped talking.

  “Oh, it’s not like we don’t know who you are so in love with,” Leda said.

  “Who said anything about love?” Sabrina shot back. “Never mind.”

  It seemed we were all coming down with a little cabin fever. Just then, Bryce called up from below. “Hey lesbians! Look what I caught.”

  We all looked at each other and then hurried to the screen door. Bryce was standing at the bottom of the steps holding the crab trap in his hand. “There’s enough here for all of us. Too bad you’re all vegan. Unless, of course, you’d care to climb off your high horses and eat a real dinner again.” He gave us a smug smile.

  Sabrina whimpered. I’d forgotten about the solidarity diet the second Bryce had shown us the crab trap. Standing hungry at the screen door, imagining what else he might whip up with that catch was too much for all of us. “The absinthe of annoying,” Leda said under her breath. We all caved-in. Again.

  A little while later, Bryce was back in the kitchen. Leda was stoking the fire in the pit outside. Sabrina and I were filling the torches around the seating area. It was another beautiful night, though I was sure at some point it would rain as it always seemed to.

  Bryce emerged from the kitchen with a giant platter in his hands. He walked proudly down the steps and placed it on the table in front of us. If I’d thought my mouth watered before, I wasn’t prepared for this. My stomach growled.

  “Bon appetit, bitches. Dig in.”

  It was delicious, once again. Bryce’s talents as a productive member of society were definitely concentrated in the cooking arts. At least he had one good quality to fall back on.

  “This, right here, is your calling, dude,” Sabrina said. “You should open a restaurant.”

  Bryce gave her a humored sneer. “As if.”

  “It might get you a real girlfriend,” Sabrina said. “I mean like, not one of those blowup doll things with the…” She formed a big O with her mouth.

  Bryce glared at her. “Stop talking, now.”

  “Aw, do you miss her?” Sabrina pretend-pouted. “Maybe we should have brought her along.”

  “That was a joke. I never used it,” Bryce said defensively.

  “What a waste. I could have used her to float out there,” Leda said, nodding toward the water.

  Sabrina and I both laughed.

  “You think I am kidding?” Leda said before stuffing another piece of crab into her mouth.

  “Shit, I’d have paid to see that,” Bryce chuckled as he scooped some more of his magical pepper sauce onto the remaining crabs. “Who wants some more?”

  “Have you ever actually had a girlfriend?” Sabrina asked. We were all seated around the fire pit on blankets, full and content after an incredible feast. Bryce had whipped up another batch of coconut milk ice-cream. This one had chocolate and candied banana shavings. We were all in heaven.

  “Why are you so interested in my sex life?” Bryce asked.

  “Not sex, love…” Sabrina clarified. “Seriously. Have you ever been in love before? I’m just curious.”

  “It’s none of your business,” Bryce said.

  “Why not? What are you hiding?”

  “You’re the one who’s hiding,” Bryce replied, taking another scoop of his ice-cream.

  Sabrina stopped talking.

  “What? They don’t know?” he laughed.

  “We know,” I said, hoping that would be enough for both Sabrina and Bryce to lay off each other.

  “Sinny, sin, sinner,” he said and chuckled again.

  Sabrina glanced over at me, then she put her head down. I caught Leda’s frown from the corner of my eye. “Alright. Play nice,” she said.

  “When are we going back?” he asked.

  “When you’re ready,” Leda replied.

  “Then let’s go now.”

  Leda looked at me. I looked at Bryce. “Why do you want to go back?”

  He made a face. “To get away from this bullshit, what do you think?”

  “Are you going to relapse?”

  “Oh, fuck off. When is the boat coming?”

  I looked over at Leda. No matter how good of a cook he was, things were only going to get uglier if we stayed couped up on the island much longer.

  “I will make the call,” Leda said.

  “Yes!” Bryce said. He threw his hands in the air.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Sabrina. She’d been quiet since before Bryce had left us to pack his one pair of shorts. The three of us stayed sitting around the fire, listening to the far-off rolls of thunder. The rain was coming, but knowing it was our last night on the island, I welcomed it.

  Sabrina looked up from the fire. Her face was lit by its orange embers. “I’m okay,” she said sullenly.

  “We’re going home tomorrow,” I said, in an attempt to cheer her up. “Yay.”

  Sabrina tried to smile but she didn’t quite make it. “Yeah… yay.”

  “Back to life, back to reality,” Leda said, so deadpan that even Sabrina smiled.

  “Jasmine is married,” Sabrina said suddenly. The words hung in the air. I was shocked since I had never considered that was a possibility.

  “Yes,” Leda said, looking into the fire.

&n
bsp; “You knew?” I asked her.

  Leda shrugged. “Yes, I knew.”

  Part of Leda’s job was to know things about the people Camille dealt with. Sabrina’s recent mood suddenly made a lot more sense. “Oh, Sabrina. That’s…”

  “Really hard,” she said, finishing my thought.

  “Did you know before? Did she tell you?” I asked.

  Sabrina took a deep breath and let it out. “I knew and I chose not to know, if that makes any sense.”

  “What about her wife? Do they have an agreement or something?” I asked.

  “No. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did, and now I don’t know what to do about it.”

  “Are you… I mean do you… have serious feelings?”

  “Yes,” Sabrina nodded sadly. “I told her, before I left, that I can’t see her anymore; that it’s not a good idea. We can’t keep on pretending that… you know how it is. It’s too easy to get caught up and want things to last longer.”

  “I think I know,” I said. “Shit, that sucks. I’m so sorry.”

  Sabrina shuffled around on the blanket. She was uncomfortable and looked like she was just barely holding it together. “It’s my own fault,” she said. “I couldn’t stop myself. I mean normally I wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “Is that what Bryce was talking about, earlier?”

  Sabrina nodded. “The guy is so clueless sometimes but he knew that. I mean, what the fuck? How would he know that?”

  “He told me earlier that he still has sources inside Vermillion. I didn’t think he was serious, but maybe he was.”

  “I feel like a complete asshole.”

  “You’re not an asshole. This is just a shitty situation for everyone,” I said.

  “My parents are still together. I’ve never cheated on anyone before. Now I’m a home wrecker.”

  “You don’t know, maybe her wife has affairs too,” Leda said sagely.

  Sabrina looked back at her. “Her wife is a total science-geek introvert, I doubt it.”

  Nobody said anything for a long time. Until the thunder that had been rolling in the distance drew nearer and nearer and we could smell the rain out over the water just ahead of us.