I was thankful to be out of there quickly and went on with my routine until I got told to go back there. This is stupid, I thought. I took a deep breath, made my way back to his office and opened the door without looking up. This time, the office was a mess. How? Did he just sit here and create a mess?
I ran my fingers through my hair, letting out a deep breath.
“What the hell?” I snapped looking around.
“Excuse me?” He raised an eyebrow.
My cheeks turned a deep shade of pink. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “Nothing,” I said quickly.
He watched me as I cleaned the room around him. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he would bother to do this. Was he punishing me? Maybe this was some sort of prank. Or maybe it was some test from God.
I didn’t even believe in God, but I’d be willing to give anything a bet.
“My stepmother liked you.”
“Good for her. When are you going to tell them we broke up?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I might have you join me for Christmas.” I was pretty sure it was a joke, but either way, I didn’t like the sounds of it. My brow furrowed.
I didn’t say anything as I cleaned the last little bit of crap and headed for the door.
Thankfully, that was the last time I saw him while I was working. Except while I was leaving. I caught sight of him at the reception desk speaking to the blonde behind it. She giggled loudly at something he said.
He caught my eye, but I increased my pace and made my way out of the building. Safe.
“Fiona, wait.”
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to face him. He stared at me, and our eyes locked for a fraction of a second. I was wrong. I wasn’t safe. Not from him.
Damnit. I need a new job.
His gazed shifted from mine. “What are you doing here?”
My heart skipped a beat as I spun to see who he was talking to. Josh smiled widely. “Fiona! I was getting ready to kick my cousin’s ass for flirting with some other girl. I didn’t realize it was you wearing …”
“I know, it’s not as nice as the dress I had one the other day,” I laughed softly, “but that dress isn’t very practical for walking around. I was in a bad part of town today, and I didn’t want to stand out too much. I’m sure you understand.”
My ability to come up with a lie on the spot kind of impressed me, to be honest. Not that it should be something I brag about, probably.
“Josh, what are you doing here?” Adam repeated.
“Oh, yes! I was coming to invite you out to dinner with myself and Kurt.”
“I’m sorry; I’ll have to pass.”
I glanced over to see him just as tense as he had been before. I felt bad for him. Stupid emotions. I still had no clue what had actually happened with Kurt, but it was clear that Adam wanted nothing to do with him.
“What? No! You can’t.”
“It’s my fault again.” I reached out, touching his hand as I came to his rescue again. “It was my brother’s birthday over the weekend, and we’ve got to go out to dinner with him tonight to celebrate. Maybe another time, though?”
“Well, I guess I can’t get in the way of your brother! Family is the most important, after all.” I felt Adam tense even more. I was guessing Adam didn’t think Josh had a right to say that.
“You’re so understanding! It was nice to see you; hopefully, we’ll see each other soon,” I lied.
Sadly, Adam and I had to head for his car together. As we got in, he gunned the engine.
“You can just drop me off up here,” I said. Just far enough that he could get away from his cousin and keep the rouse up.
“Don’t be stupid; I’ll take you home.” He didn’t say another word as he headed for my place. My brow furrowed. What a gentleman.
I stared out the window the entire time without speaking, even as he pulled up to my building, and I stepped out of the car.
56. Chapter Nine
I bit my lip. I had no clue what it was about her, but she hadn’t spoken to me since Sunday. I mean, not really. She came in and cleaned if she had to, but that was it. She didn’t say hi or even give me a smile if I smiled at her.
Damnit. She must still be mad about what I’d said the other day. I hadn’t meant it. I hadn’t meant to treat her … I blew out a deep breath as my phone went off and stared down at the text.
Wanna hang out tonight?
I wasn’t sure I was able to face him. Not right now. Not after what I’d realized this weekend.
I took a deep breath and replied, letting him know that my father needed me to work late again. Some big project, but that wasn’t actually the case. I looked up as she stepped into my office.
She frowned looking around at the mess. I can’t believe she’s never mentioned it. I knew it was a little unrealistic to do it, but this was the only way…
I avoided all eye contact with him as he stared at me. I didn’t get how the garbage could be full again. I looked over at the fast food wrappers. I hadn’t seen him go out to get fast food. Then you missed him; it’s not like it’s your job to keep an eye on him. Right. I knew that was the truth, but I couldn’t help wondering about it.
“Fiona,” he stood, crossing over to me.
I forced myself to look over at him. “What do you want?” I snapped. I had managed not to say a word to him for the past three days since we’d ran into Josh.
“Josh wants to have dinner with us.” He looked me up and down.
“Can’t you tell him we’re busy or something?”
“If I keep avoiding him, then he’s going to catch onto the fact that something is wrong. I thought you agreed …”
“Yea, yea. I’ll go to dinner with you. Just … maybe try not making such a mess all the time.” Fuck, I didn’t even get how he could manage to do it. I mean, it was crazy.
Adam smirked. “Okay.” He reached into his pocket and pulled his wallet out, grabbing his credit card.
My heart skipped a beat as he handed it to me. “No thanks.”
“You’ll need something to wear.”
“I’m sure I can find something suitable.”
He bit his lip, and for a second, it looked like he was going to protest, but he didn’t. He just slipped the card back into his pocket and shrugged. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow after work. Sound acceptable?”
Did I really have a choice? I mean, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be doing this.
“Fine.”
“And how about a grand, since it’s just dinner.”
I took a deep breath. Part of me wanted to tell him I would do it for free, but why turn down that grand? I was sure he could spare it. I was sure he wouldn’t even notice if it was gone from his bank account. Unlike normal people, a grand didn’t mean anything to him.
Without a word to him, I walked away. If he wanted to pay me, I wouldn’t stop him, but I wasn’t going to negotiate my pay.
Because that was somehow what made this whole thing cheap.
I put my supplies away and made my way into the locker room where two other girls were changing.
“I don’t know, but he must be pretty special,” one of them was saying. They both turned to me.
“Hey, do you know what that guy’s deal is? The young one who has his own office?”
My heart skipped a beat. Are they asking me if he’s single? Why would they ask me? Why would they think I knew?
“I …” then it clicked. They weren’t asking if I knew his dating status, they were asking if I knew why he had his own office. “No, sorry. But if I find out, I’ll let you know.” I gave them a smile as I opened my locker and pulled my purse out. I changed quickly and headed for the elevator, thankful when I didn’t run into Adam. After the two girls had just asked me about him, I didn’t want to be caught talking to him. Otherwise, I couldn’t begin to imagine how bad the rumors would be!
I headed for the bus stop and waited, thankful that I’d been able to slip out early en
ough most days not to miss it.
The bus home actually didn’t take too long, assuming everything went according to schedule, and today it did. Which meant I got home just after six and made for my apartment. I opened the door without having to unlock it.
“You’re home again today?”
“Yea. My friends have been busy, I guess.”
My brow creased. What was he lying about? Why was he actually staying home so much this week? Maybe he thinks I’m up to something.
I bit my lip as I put my work bag down on the counter and stared at the stove. My brow furrowed deeper as I turned to my brother. “You made dinner?”
“I got bored. We really don’t have anything all that interesting to cook with in the house.”
“Yes, well that’s what it’s like when you’re on a tight budget.” I padded over to the frypan and lifted the lid, licking my lips. Chicken. Just the way our mom used to make it when she actually made us dinner.
I bit my lip looking for at Josh.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking me off guard.
“I … yea, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You just seem … off. That’s all; I thought something might be off; after last weekend, you just seem … I don’t know, like you’re upset or something.”
“No,” I said a little too quickly. I turned away from him, my cheeks flushing. “I mean, I’m just tired. That’s all.”
Yes, tired was an excuse that could rationalize anything, right?
“Are you sure that’s it? What did you do over the weekend, anyways?”
“I just … had to help someone out with a family situation.” I grabbed a plate from the side of the sink that I was pretty sure was clean and put my dinner down on it. Beside the frypan was a small pot of rice and veggies. I cannot put into words how amazing it was to have dinner ready for me.
“Well, I hope it worked out alright for your friend.”
I shrugged. “I don’t really care,” I spat. My cheeks flushed the second I said it. I knew it was the wrong thing to say, but if Josh heard it, he didn’t say anything, thankfully. I sat down at the table across from him and lifted my feet onto the chair as I reached around my knees and cut into my dinner.
“So, how’s work?” I asked.
My brother wasn’t interested in school. He had decided that a long time ago, so he was working for a small café down the street. He had a huge passion for it, which meant that he and the business owner often worked hand in hand with a lot of the projects, and Josh was leading the marketing team. No longer just a counter boy—he’d been promoted.
“It’s not too bad, except a Starbucks moved in across the street.”
I wrinkled my nose to show my sympathy.
“How about you; how’s work going for you?”
I shrugged. “It’s alright. It’s … well, I’m cleaning up after people so it kinda sucks, but oh, well. I just remember that I’m getting paid for it. And looking for some part-time work.” I bit my lip, hoping he didn’t ask any more questions about work. I didn’t want him to think I was ungrateful for getting me the job; I was sure it had probably been a pain in the ass, and he owed people favors for it. “What’s important is that it should pay for school when the time comes.”
“You know … if you want help with school I can—”
“No. We’ve gone over this before. It’s your money to spend.”
“How I want it. Right? What if I want to help?”
“I don’t want your help. I want you to buy a house or something for yourself. Settle down and have kids, put the money towards their college.”
“What if I don’t want kids?”
I raised my eyebrow. This was the first I’d heard about that.
“Then we’ll talk once you own a house.” I gave him a smile. He frowned. I could tell he didn’t like it, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want my brother to feel like he had to save me.
“Anyways, if I can get a second job, it won’t be any trouble to save the money.”
There, I’d just hinted that I was trying to find a second job, so when I revealed the fact that I had more money in my bank than he realized, it wouldn’t be surprising. He would just think it was because of the second job, and if it was online, I could just tell him whenever I wanted that the job ended. It’s not like he would be able to check the facts unless he logged onto my computer. Not that he’d do that—I hoped.
I finished the rest of my dinner and did the dishes quickly. “Thanks for dinner.”
“Eh, I had nothing better to do,” he said dismissively.
I glanced over at the clock. My heart skipped a beat. Tomorrow, I’ll be having dinner with Adam and Josh. And I was going to have to pretend that Adam and I were in love.
It had been easy during the weekend when I thought we were friends. When I thought he didn’t just see me as some sort of whore. But he had made it clear Saturday night that he only saw one use for me. So that was all I would do—be useful to him when he needed me. Just give it a couple weeks, and he can ‘break things off’ with me. Then I won’t have to pretend anymore. Although I would miss his family. There was something I really liked about them. His stepmom had been … nice, and his sisters were all so sweet!
Once I’d done the dishes, I padded into my bedroom, drained and dreading the next day. Was there any way I would be able to bail on him?
57. Chapter Ten
Adam looked down at his phone, his brow furrowing. “It looks like it’s just the two of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Josh bailed on us.”
“He what?” I groaned. But maybe this was a good thing. It meant that I could go home, right? “Well, are we going to go home now or what?”
Please say we’re going home.
“No.”
“No?” I splattered. Why not?
“I’m hungry. You probably haven’t eaten either, so just order something, and we can eat, then I’ll take you home.”
I sighed and went back to looking down at the menu. I bit my lip. This just sucked. Now I was stuck alone with him, and that was the last fucking thing I wanted.
“Are you ready to order?” a woman asked, looking from me to Adam, her eyes locking on him.
“I am,” I said. Adam glanced at me, then nodded.
The girl’s attention was still on him as she got ready to take the order.
“The steak, rare. With mashed potatoes. Please.”
“Of course.” She batted her eyelashes.
I waited for her to turn her attention to me, but she didn’t. So I cleared my throat. “The chicken param, please.”
“Mhm.” Still she hadn’t looked away from Adam as a flirty smile spread across her lips. She turned around and headed away from the table. I stared after her, my eyes narrowing as I tried to ignore the jealousy that tugged at the pit of my stomach.
“You don’t look happy.”
“I don’t like being ignored.”
“Are you sure it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that it was me she was looking at?” he teased.
I snorted. “Funny.”
But I didn’t dare tell him that he might just be right. I took a long drink of water, just to make sure the conversation died out.
“My father seemed quite a fan of you,” he said as if he was actually trying to make conversation.
“Mhm.” I wasn’t in the mood to make conversation, so I just sat there and stared at him.
He smirked. “But he made a good point. He kept asking questions, and I realized how little I know about you.”
My brow furrowed. Why the fuck would he care how well he knew me? After all, he could just make things up so that his dad would be impressed.
“I guess it’s a good thing you could lie. I mean, we’ll be ‘breaking up’ soon, right?”
Adam looked away; for a split second, it almost looked like he was upset by what I had said. Why would he be upset? It hadn’t seemed like he had any interest in hav
ing a girlfriend; otherwise, he would have just gone out and found a nice girl to date, instead of hiring me, right?
“So, how is your vet schooling going?” he asked, taking a sip of his water.
I stared at him blankly. Why did he care?
I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to be too rude, and I was probably already pushing that boundary pretty far.
“I … I haven’t started it. I wanted to save up some money first so I’m spending a couple years working. And then I’m going to apply for some loans and hope I get in.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought it out pretty well.”
“Well yea, it is my future. I like to think that thing through.”
“What about family?”
“What?”
“I mean, do you want a family?”
“I haven’t thought much about it. I doubt any guy would want to date me.” I was a handful and knew that. It wasn’t something I was ashamed of, though.
“I highly doubt that.”
I turned to see Adam staring at me, and my heart leapt. What did he mean by that? He stared at me, his eyes locking on mine. My breath caught in my throat as I returned his stare.
I forced myself to look away and regain my breathing. It was stupid to let him get to me like that.
“What about you? I mean, what do you want to do for a living?” I asked, shifting the conversation away from me.
“I’m going to own a company, like my father.”
“Really? What kind?”
“Well, when I was young I used to want to own a modeling company, but now …” He paused, taking a drink. I snorted. Somehow, I totally saw him wanting to own a company that was all about beautiful women. “I’ve been thinking about something that will actually benefit people.”
I stared at her, unsure of how much to say. Most people thought it was a crazy idea when I told them I wanted to start a charity, but I had the money to get it going, and I wanted to help people. I wanted to make this world a better place because I was here.
She actually smiled for the first time tonight—a real smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
I didn’t tell her more about it. I had never told anyone else more about it.
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 37