The Billionaire From Boston

by Simply BWWM

  “Something like that,” I said sitting back down.

  “This isn’t a conflict of interest kind of thing, is it?” Amanda continued to eye me. At least the other woman in the room was picking up on my disgust in him. I wish he would too, so he would stop looking at me like this was the best serendipity of his life.

  “Oh, no. You don’t need to worry about that at all, Amanda. I assure you Nevaeh is an excellent attorney and very professional.” He knew crap about me; he was just trying to butter me up.

  The meeting went as expected. My client was willing to have joint custody, but Mrs. Simons wanted sole custody citing my client’s indiscretions, partying lifestyle, and recreational drug use as proof he was an irresponsible father. It was hard to disagree with her, but he was my client and I did my best to represent him.

  “Fine,” he shouted after a long list of his faults were read out. “If you want to fight dirty, I can do that. I want sole custody, and I’ll take it to court if I have to.”

  I put my hand on Mr. Simons’ arm to calm him down.

  “No,” he said shrugging me off, “I was being amicable about this, but if this is how she wants to play it, I can tell you all her ‘indiscretions’ too, and in front of a very public court. She doesn’t give a crap about Teddy, she just wants money and she isn’t going to get any without him.”

  Amanda was shooting fiery darts from her eyes at him. Before it turned into a screaming match, Edward diffused the situation.

  “I have an idea. It seems both of you are unwilling to trust the other with sole custody, but are unwilling to have shared custody. How about instead of arguing why the other is unfit, you take some time to decide why you feel you are a better fit as a parent than the other. We all know none of us wants this going to court. Nobody here needs that negative publicity. So let’s take a day to work out some emotions, and reconvene tomorrow.”

  I had to say it was very diplomatic of him. Although both of us would benefit greatly if this went to court. I had to think of little Teddy, though. It wouldn’t benefit him at all to know his parents were slandering each other in hopes to get him as the prize. The only thing was, he wasn’t the prize it was the leverage and money that came with him.

  First Edward ushered his client out the door, then held it open for Simons and I. Before I could scoot past him coldly, he grabbed my arm.

  “Hey,” he whispered.

  “What?” I asked, attempting disinterest.

  “What are you doing tonight? Want to go get some drinks? Catch up?”

  Was he seriously asking me to go out with him tonight? “Um, rain check. I’m pretty busy.”

  “Come on, Vay. For old times’ sake.” I wanted to say no, but I melted into those dark chocolate eyes. With a heavy sigh and a nod, I agreed.

  He smiled a boyish grin. “Awesome! Meet me at Oliver’s? Say around eight?”

  “Fine. One drink, though,” I said narrowing my gaze.

  ***

  Oliver’s Lounge was an upscale bar inside the Mayflower Hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle. It was a little over-priced if you asked me, but was the roost for many attorneys after hours.

  I sat at the bar, shuffling through some paperwork at five to eight. I hated how OCD I was about being on time. I should have made him wait for me. I should have stood him up. Here I was, early like always, waiting for him.

  “I figured you would be a little early.” His voice woke me from my concentration and I looked up to find him taking the seat next to me. He removed his coat and loosened his tie, undoing his top button. I could see his tight muscles under his thin cotton shirt. I could also see something under his tight pants, but I tried not to focus on that.

  He ordered for us. Still knew my favorite drink. He looked over at me. “Hope that’s okay? It’s what you used to like.”

  “Yeah, no, it’s fine. I still like it.”

  “Glad to hear there are at least some things you still like.”

  I knew where he was going with that, and I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. “So,” I started, “What have you been up to the last three years?”

  “Nothing exciting here, just stuck to the plan. How about you? How’s your mom?”

  “She’s good.”

  “Is this your first time handling a case solo?”

  “Yep.”

  “Are you going to give me one-word answers all night?” he said with an irritated smirk.

  “No, not all night. I only said one drink.”

  “Well in that case, I guess I should cut to the chase and ask you what happened, since I’m short on time.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Vay, come on. You up and ditched me out of nowhere. You wouldn’t return my calls, you wouldn’t see me. What happened?”

  I thought about answering him, but changed my mind. “Look it’s in the past, so let’s just leave it there and move on.”

  “Okay, fine.” he said with a sigh. I doubted he was going to let it go that easily. We were lawyers after all—we got kicks out of a challenge. “Have you seen your dad lately?”

  “Yeah, like that’s a better topic of conversation.” Edward knew all about my challenging childhood. My parents’ nasty divorce. How their joint custody of me had just turned me into a pawn to use against each other. My father was the worst, and because of it, we didn’t have that great of a relationship.

  “Okay, how ‘bout you tell me about your job. Is that a safe enough topic for you?” He was acting like he was walking on eggshells around me. Like I was being a B. Okay maybe I was, but it was his fault.

  “Fine, okay, let’s just get this over with so you can leave me alone.” He was shocked by my outburst. “I saw you in the stacks that one day. You were talking to some blonde girl from the study group, I think her name was Brittany or Tiffany or Bimbo. Anyway, I heard everything you said.”

  “What do you think you heard?” Edward asked cautiously.

  “Don’t patronize me Edward! I know we weren’t like official or whatever, but you know what you said, and you know I heard you agree to meet up with her later.”

  “Seriously? This is why you stopped seeing me? Because of her?” He was shocked, flabbergasted. “Why didn’t you talk to me? Ask me? Let me explain?”

  “Hey, I had already had a lifetime of being lied to and manipulated for someone else’s gain. I don’t have time in my life to do that anymore.”

  “Okay, first of all, her name was Brittany. She was my sister’s best friend. No doubt, she was asked to snoop on me on my sister’s behalf. Everyone knew how serious we were and she knew all I was telling her was a pile of shit.”

  “Then why say it if it was all lies?”

  Edward sighed, took a pull of his drink, and ran his hand through his hair. “Look, my sister was sniffing around to see who I was dating. I hadn’t told any of my family about us. I told you about my parents, they are grade-A assholes. If I’m with any less than an effing Rockefeller, I’m letting them down. My sister would love anything to knock me down. She was failing out of pre-med and getting a lot of flak from my parents because of it. She was desperate to turn the attention somewhere else.”

  “Sure, that’s all fine and dandy. But you met her after the study group. I heard you.” I glared at him. “I’m not someone who’s just going to sit around and be played.”

  “If you recall, I was outside your dorm room all that night trying to get you to talk to me.”

  “So what? If I had shown up, you wouldn’t have gone over to see her?”

  “Hell no! And she knew that! Look, in my world, what you say and what you do are not always the same, okay? Jeez Vay, you should have asked me. You should have talked to me.” He ran his hand through his hair again. I softened up a little to him. I guess I should have asked, maybe, I don’t know.

  He gave me a devilish grin and a friendly nudge. I tried my best to suppress a smile. I could feel his eyes on me as I struggled to keep mine on the glass in front
of me.

  “Okay, fine. I should have asked you. There, are you happy?”

  “Happy? I’m ecstatic! This calls for a celebration.” He ordered us two shots each. I had come straight from work and hadn’t eaten since lunch.

  I eyed it suspiciously, “I don’t know. I have to get up early tomorrow. Working on this big case, you know.”

  “Don’t worry Vay, I’ll take good care of you. I won’t let you get drunk,” he said with a wicked grin. It was all lies. I mumbled what a jerk he was under my breath as we clanked our first shots and tipped them back.

  Chapter Three

  I woke up with a dry taste in my mouth and a killer headache. Not as bad as it could have been, though. Luckily, after our third shot, Edward ordered some hors d’oeuvres for us to munch on. I wasn’t so hungover that I completely forgot the night. I blushed at the memory of it.

  The cab ride back to his place, up against the elevator wall, and all over his flat. It was a hot night, to say the least. I looked over to his sleeping figure next to me. I couldn’t believe that just a day ago I was dreading seeing him. Last night had been like we picked up right where we left off. I had really missed him.

  Maybe that’s why I had been so hateful towards him, because he had meant so much to me and I thought I didn’t for him. Last night had calmed any fears of that. Other than our mind-blowing sex all over his place, he had also held me and told me how much it hurt him when I shut him out. It warmed my heart to know that it hadn’t been one-sided like I had thought, all this time.

  I rolled out of bed as stealthily as possible and made my way to check out the damage in the bathroom mirror. Not too bad. My hair was still pretty smooth. I grabbed some make-up wipes out of my purse and removed the mascara circles under my eyes.

  Then I used the mini disposable toothbrushes I always had on hand to freshen up my breath a bit. Julia always made fun of my gigantic purse full of everything I might ever need in the event of an apocalypse, but I liked being prepared. I hated surprises.

  As I brushed, I grabbed my phone to check for any texts. I had three from Julia, wondering how drinks went. I looked out the bathroom door. Edward was still asleep. I figured I would take the opportunity to scroll through a little social media. I wanted to do a little cyber stalking on Edward. Really, I was just curious about what he had been doing for the last three years.

  To say I was shocked at what I found was an understatement. His profile picture was him kissing another girl. Okay, don’t panic, you’ve seen each other one night, I thought. Who knows how old this picture is. I scrolled through his info page. He put his status as in a relationship, for the last eighteen months!

  Okay, now panic! Was I just the other girl? I can’t believe he made me the other girl! He had a girlfriend. From the looks of it, a pretty serious one. How had that not come up once last night? Had he seriously just played me twice?

  I was gripping the counter staring back at my reflection in the mirror. I reviewed the whole night over in my head, well, the parts I remembered. Had he seriously just fed me a whole bunch of crap to, how had he said it in law school, tasting the fair?

  To top it off, the girl was Jennifer Middleton, practically as good as a Rockefeller. I had just been the little slice of fun he had on the side. I felt sick. I had to get out of there. If I spent another moment with him, there was a good chance I might smother him with a pillow.

  I quietly grabbed my purse, clothes, and shoes, and made my way out the front door. I looked over at the clock on my way out; 5:45 am. Awesome, I would be seeing him in just over two hours anyway, for day two of mediation. Man, was my big break getting crappier and crappier by the minute.

  ***

  I had allowed myself exactly ten minutes of crying before I told myself to suck it up and move on. I showered, dressed for work, and headed out the door. Once again, I found myself sitting in the Kinkade conference room alone with my client, waiting for opposing counsel to grace us with their presence. Fifteen minutes later, both Mr. Simons and I were fuming.

  “Sorry we are a little late,” Edward said with a bounce to his step as he entered the conference room. “Had to do a little conferring first.”

  As soon as he looked at me, I retorted with a look of disgust, rolling my eyes and refusing to give him the time of day for the rest of the meeting. Confusion marred his face, but he quickly recovered for the sake of the meeting.

  The meeting was long, tedious, and uneventful. I didn’t see an end in sight till one of them gave in, but they were both digging their heels in firmly. Mrs. Simons insisted that her soon-to-be-ex had lived a life of partying, drugs, and women. Not to mention life as a football player sent you traveling half the year.

  Mr. Simons argued that his soon-to-be-ex bunny was no better than him in the indiscretion department. Further stating that he was more of a parent then she, and their son, Teddy, would easily say he preferred to stay with Dad. It was once again another meeting of pointing fingers at who was the worse person. I was waiting for them to bring Teddy in and stand on either side of the room, calling his name to see who he picked.

  It brought a lot of unpleasant memories back to me. Fighting over where I wanted to be for holidays since my parents refused to spend it together, or making me choose who to live with. Why is it that the people who get hurt the worst in a divorce are never the married couple themselves?

  Finally, it was getting close to lunch and we decided to give it a break, they were now on to bribing effects in exchange for custody. I’ll let you keep the beach home in Key West if you give me Teddy… I’ll give you back your grandmother’s engagement ring if you give me Teddy. I felt that in of all this arguing and bargaining, no one had once actually thought of Teddy’s needs.

  As everyone cleared the room, I was emotionally drained and just ready to get out of there. Before I could, once again Edward stopped me at the door.

  “Hey, you okay?” he asked with a worried look in his eye. “I know that couldn’t have been an easy meeting for you.” Why did he have to be so caring? Girlfriend, remember he has a girlfriend.

  “I’m fine,” I said curtly.

  “Okay, hey I was thinking about picking you up for dinner tonight. How does pizza at my place sound?”

  “Yeah, not so good.”

  “Do you want to go out then?”

  “You know, Edward, I’m pretty busy and last night was fun and all, but I just don’t have time in my life for this kind of distraction right now.”

  “Come on, it was a good kind of distraction,” he said with a flirtatious grin.

  “Eh, mediocre.” That was a flat-out lie. It was the best sex I had ever had. Freaking mind blowing, which was disappointing since he turned out to really be a sleaze ball. It had the effect I wanted, his ego was wounded. He took a step back. Time to go in for the kill.

  “Plus,” I added as I made my way around him, “I think things might get a little complicated with your girlfriend and all.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I saw the pictures of you on your profile. I’m sure daddy will whole-heartily approve of a girl like that. I’m just not the kind that’s okay with being the extra on the side.”

  “Look, Vay-”

  “I don’t care,” I interrupted. “I don’t want to know. I don’t want to hear any more excuses from you. We tried it twice and it didn’t work out. So let’s just leave it be.” And with that, I walked out before he could finish what he had started.

  Chapter Four

  The next day I arrived at the Kinkade conference room to find a replacement had stepped in for Edward. The excuse was too big a workload so he had delegated it out. I was relieved to know I wouldn’t have to look into those stunning blue eyes ever again. The case had gone as expected. After two weeks of back and forth bickering and separation of the assets, ex-Mrs. Simons was given sole custody.

  Sure it was a bit of a blow to my ego not to win what my client desired, but it was inevitable. She was the m
other, after all, and whether a good one or not, the kids always went to the mother. She had, however, given into the condition of every other weekend visits with my client during the off season. Apparently this was satisfactory enough with him.

  A month after the settlement, I was really getting into my new place in the firm. The partners were appreciative with the outcome. I had been give more responsibilities and I could see a big promotion in my future. I was finally getting that break I had worked so hard to get. There was just a small, tiny really, hitch.

  I was in the elevator climbing up slowly to Kinkade and Associates with a little associate of my own. I had never felt so nervous in all my life. I was so stupid, why was I even doing this? But I knew the answer to that one.

  Sure, my father had turned out to be a jackass who spent every encounter telling me how horrible my mother was, how she wanted to keep him from me. As a child, I had believed it, he was the big fun friend after all, but soon I realized Mama was purposefully keeping me from him, for my safety.

  It was all clear the Christmas Eve he got so drunk he pulled an axe out of the kitchen drawer. He had destroyed his kitchen table in front of my mother and myself, refusing to let her take me home.

  He had become nothing to me after that. Mother had never remarried and it had just been her and me. It wasn’t a bad childhood, but I had suffered without that fatherly figure in the home. I didn’t want that for this little one.

  As much as I didn’t want to be there, I felt the need to give Edward the chance to be that father that all children need in their life. I would give him that opportunity, hoping he wouldn’t accept it.

  The doors opened to reception and I took a deep breath as I walked to the main desk. I had already started to fight the nausea that came along with my little friend, but I refused to throw up here.

  “I’d like to see Mr. Kinkade,” I stated politely.

  “Um,” the receptionist fumbled through her appointment book on the computer, “I’m sorry, which one did you say?”