“I’ll see you later,” Fee said. Fee. I liked calling her that. Like her brother did. Her parents called her Fee too, but she didn’t like it. I saw the way she tensed up when they did it.
“Yea, now that you two are out in the open, come by! Don’t feel like you have to hide your fake girlfriend from me, man.” Josh grinned.
Fee smacked him lightly. That just made Josh laugh.
“Yea, for sure.” I grinned. I couldn’t help it, and for a second I thought this might actually work.
I watched as he headed out of the house and closed the door behind him.
“So, he’s into you,” Josh said.
“Uh, what?”
“Don’t get me wrong; I’m not happy about it, but I guess if you have to find a boyfriend, at least I know all about him.”
My brow creased. “What do you mean? He doesn’t like me.”
Josh stared at me, his eyes narrowing. “Um, yes, he does, Fee. Don’t you see the way he looks at you?”
I scoffed. He was fucking crazy if he thought Adam liked me; well, at least as more than a fake girlfriend. And maybe a fuck or two, but I wasn’t going to mention that.
“And it’s pretty clear you like him,” Mm brother said, snapping me back to reality.
“Wait, what?”
How was he getting that?
I mean, don’t you guys see the way you look at each other? You hold hands, gees. That is like … so couply of you.”
My brow furrowed. “That’s stupid.” I paused, letting out a deep breath. He wasn’t right, was he? I mean … now that he was saying it out loud …
“He just told you if you needed help dealing with family he would get involved.”
“No, he told you that. As a friend. Because you two are friends.”
I bit my lip.
“You can try to deny it all you want.” He shrugged.
My brow furrowed. “Wait, you two are friends, right?” I thought about something that had been bugging me for a long time. Since the weekend I went to spend at his parents.
“Yea, why?”
“Well, there’s just … have you ever heard him mention a guy named Kurt?”
“You mean, the guy who comes out drinking with us?”
My heart skipped a beat. “No. No, that can’t be it. He wouldn’t go out drinking with him. He …”
“Who is he?”
I glanced up at my brother, somewhat lost in thought still. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s just … someone in his family, a cousin. That is about all I know, and that he did something when they were younger, and Adam went crazy. Adam put him in the hospital. We ran into him last weekend, and he just … shifted. Completely.”
Josh looked at me. “No, I’ve never heard him mention that name before.”
“Oh, okay.” I tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal and gave my brother a wide smile. “I was just wondering if you had any ideas because I’m out of them. Except that it has to do with a girl.”
“A girl?”
“Yea, I mean, Adam hasn’t flat out said it, but he has pretty much admitted it.” Josh frowned. I stared at him for a couple seconds; he looked deep in thought, and then it was like something suddenly clicked. “What is it?” I asked quickly.
“I don’t know I mean, it could be nothing, but I’ve heard him mention a Jenny when he gets a little too drunk.”
Jenny? Interesting. I bit my lip. He said they weren’t unfamiliar with being in the paper. Maybe I could dig something up online about it.
“So, trying to save him from his demons? And you’re trying to tell me there are no feelings there,” my brother teased.
“What? I’m not trying to—save him. That’s crazy. Why would I waste my time with that?” I mean, it’s not like he’d even let me save him if I wanted to, is it? “I was just wondering if you knew anything, like it might be interesting. I was just being nosey.”
Yes. Nosey. I wanted to gossip with my brother. That didn’t make me sound bad at all.
I didn’t care.
“Whatever, you’re into him.” My brother sounded so cool about it as he stood and walked away.
I sat on the couch pouting that he had managed to get the last word. I hated that. I wanted to have the last word. What the hell does he mean? I don’t have a crush on him, and he sure as hell doesn’t have a crush on me. Clearly, my brother had no idea what a dick his friend could be. And if he did know, he would fully understand why I wasn’t into him. But it was nice of him to offer to help.
It’s not that Adam was all bad. I just … didn’t trust him. It seemed like there was something about him … something that confused me. Something I couldn’t pinpoint, and I hated it.
I closed my eyes, letting out a huff. But that didn’t help because as soon as I closed my eyes, I thought of him. My heart skipped a beat. I hated that I thought of him. Josh is wrong, I thought opening my eyes.
I mean, sure he was cute and fun, and he was great in bed—not that I had much to judge that on. And he was amazing when it came to his siblings. I absolutely loved the way he was with his sisters. And every time he opened up to me just a little, I liked him more and more. And I thought it was awesome that he wanted to run a charity.
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.
Shit.
Realizing my brother was right about something always sucked. I hated that he knew me so well. But he’s wrong about Adam. There was no way he had any feelings for me. I saw the way he looked at me, and that wasn’t affection. That was … whatever use I was to him. I don’t even get what his end game is here. I had to admit, I had no fucking clue. And I knew I should ask him, but I couldn’t bring myself to. Either way, I needed to take care of myself and needed to make sure that this little crush I had didn’t get any bigger.
73. Chapter Twenty-one
“Hi.” He actually smiled as he looked up to see me.
“Hi.” I bit my lip. How was I going to tell him? I mean, I knew it would be bad of me, but what else was I supposed to do? If he and I became friends … if I actually had feelings for him … I sucked in a deep breath.
He looked me up and down carefully. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—”
“Do you want to grab lunch and talk about it?”
“No. I … I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What do you mean?”
“I … I just don’t think it’s a good idea that we hang out.” I tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal because it wasn’t. It’s not like we were actually into each other. It was just … just a job. Right? I mean, it wasn’t like we were going to stay in contact after his family thought we broke up. That would just be … “With everything going on with my parents, and with Josh … He needs me, that’s all and I just mean …”
I honestly didn’t even know what I was supposed to say. All I knew was that I had to put an end to it because Josh was right about me having feelings for him. I couldn’t stand to admit that he might actually be right. I thought about the night we’d spent together.
I sucked in a deep breath and forced myself to look at him. For a split second, I could have sworn he looked hurt. He gave a single nod.
“Alright. I’ll get hold of you if my family wants to do something with us. And since your parents think we’re together, feel free to do the same.”
“Thanks.”
It was nice that he offered, right? I mean, at least I knew I could call him if I needed to.
I looked around the room, anywhere but at him. I crossed over to the garbage can that had been filled already. He called me in here to clean.
“I’ll tidy up before I go get changed,” I said softly, more to myself than to him, but I heard him grunt, which meant he heard me.
The entire time, I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I hated that it hurt me. I hated that I was hurt when he didn’t protest to not seeing me. I can’t believe I actually thought Josh might have been right. It was stupid to
think that Adam might have had feelings for me, right? I mean, I knew all along that he didn’t. And then Josh mentioned it and … Suddenly, it seemed like such a real possibility. Stupid brother. I’d have to give him food poisoning or something. Guilt tugged at me. He had probably just been teasing, and I hadn’t realized it because I had hoped he was being honest when he said he thought his friend liked me, as more than a fake girlfriend.
As I headed out of the office, I fought back the urge to cry.
I watched her leave. My brow furrowed. This wasn’t good.
This wasn’t as planned at all. If this didn’t go according to plan, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I stared down at the empty garbage can that she had just put down in its place. Reaching for my backpack, my mind raced. If she doesn’t want to see me … I just didn’t get it. I mean, this weekend had gone better than I expected, except my grandmother pestering me about Kurt for the millionth time. I reached into the backpack and pulled out a handful of the contents. Maybe that’s it. I could just tell her the truth about me. Couldn’t I?
I pulled my hand out from the backpack and dropped a handful of garbage into the can. I’d have to wait a while to call her back, but then I’d talk to her.
I opened my email as one popped up. My heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds as I stared at the name attached to it. Kurt.
74. Chapter Twenty-two
“Hi.”
I didn’t dare look at him when I saw him. It’s not that I had anything against him—I mean, he was going to pay for my first year of school—it was more the fact that I felt guilty for what I had done. He had actually seemed so hurt that I said we shouldn’t see each other anymore, and I felt like a total dick for it. I knew that it was for the best. I mean, it wouldn’t be good for us if we kept hanging out. If I actually got a crush on him, and he just ended things … I’d be broken hearted, and then Josh would know he had been right about all of it. I wasn’t sure I could stand that, honestly. I hated the idea of him knowing that I’d fallen for his best friend.
Not that I knew he was Josh’s best friend.
We stood there in silence as we waited for the elevator. Damnit, what is taking it so long? I thought.
“So, you’re just going to ignore me?”
I bit my lip. I had a choice to make. Do I keep ignoring him or lie? I turned to him. I knew it was the wrong choice, but either choice I made was going to be wrong, so I didn’t care. I was going to make the wrong choice either way.
“I’m not ignoring you.”
“Not anymore.” He frowned.
“Was there something you wanted?” I asked as the elevator finally arrived and we stepped into it together.
He gazed at me. “I need to talk to you … alone sometime.”
“I thought we agreed that—”
“Fine, whatever. It doesn’t matter.” He stared straight ahead as the doors closed, and we made our way towards the lobby.
I felt guilt tug at the pit of my stomach. “If—”
“No, never mind. I can deal with it myself.”
Okay, now I felt even worse. I opened my mouth to say something, but the doors opened again and let us out.
I hated admitting how disappointed I was. I mean, I knew I shouldn’t be. She’d said she didn’t want to hang out anymore, but even though it had been hours later, I was still annoyed by it. I mean, I was paying her to be my support, right? Well, I really fucking needed support right now.
I thought about the email.
I couldn’t believe someone had given him my email. Whoever it was, I would find out, and I would … do something about it. I had no clue what I was going to do, but I would do something. I’ll just force her to come, I thought.
It didn’t matter if she wanted to or not. That’s not what I was paying her for, and we both knew it. Damn, I should have asked about her parents.
I thought it was off that they suddenly wanted to see her and spend all this time with her. Right after some articles surfaced about us being together. It’s not like my family was rolling in money, but we were well off, and we knew what it was like to be in the paper. I just wished she would give them a little bit of doubt. But that wasn’t Fiona’s way. She believed in the benefit of the doubt, despite the fact that her parents had never really been in her life. She still wanted to defend them and try to repair their relationship.
Her brother, on the other hand, wasn’t so nice about it. I’d seen the look on his face when they were there. He had all but wanted to kill them. And I couldn’t blame him. We hadn’t talked about them much, just like we didn’t talk about my family, but I could read the look on his face when we did talk about them.
“Are you going out with Adam tonight?”
I glanced toward my brother, my eyes glaring. “What?” I snapped.
He actually took a step back from me. “Never mind, I was just wondering …”
“No, he doesn’t have any need for me tonight.”
Actually, that might have been a lie. I wasn’t sure. He pretty much said he did need me. I thought about his family. His sisters, mostly. They had become so attached to me. I blew out a deep breath. Why are they going to have to get hurt? I mean, really, why did I have to be nice to them when I met them? I should have just been mean so they would hate me. I didn’t want them to, but if I had done it before actually knowing them.
Hell, the other day his sister had even come to me for dating advice!
I groaned, not saying a word to my brother as I headed for the bathroom. I needed a nice hot tub.
“If you’re not going to hang out with him, I’m going to!” Josh called after me.
“Do whatever you want!” I called back, slamming the bathroom door behind me and locking it; not that I really expected my brother to burst in here.
I got the tub running, added a little bubble bath and Epson salt, and then stripped out of my clothing as fast as I could. It’s for the best, I reminded myself.
I knew it was true. If we got too attached to each other, then it was just going to end worse than it already would, and it was going to end bad already. I just knew it. I stepped into the hot water and blew out a deep breath, sighing as I let the tension ease out of my body. What am I supposed to do? It’s not like I really had any friends to talk to about it. Matt.
But I was pretty sure he no longer considered himself my friend. I mean, sure we had gone out to drink a couple times. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about what had happened with him.
My jaw dropped. “You’re the reason Matt got fired?”
“No, Matt’s the reason Matt got fired.”
I stared with wide eyes as Adam padded over to the coffeemaker and started to get coffee ready. He didn’t say anything, but I was waiting for him to explain to me why he had fired Matt. Finally, he turned to face me and seemed to realize I was waiting.
Still he didn’t say anything.
I blew out a deep breath of frustration.
“Oh, what?” he snapped. “The guy was unprofessional. You know I caught him trying to walk into the women’s change rooms?”
I mean, sure I didn’t know all the details, but I did believe Adam enough to know that he wasn’t lying.
“He had been arrested, twice. My father believes in giving people chances and that people can change. It’s worked for us a lot, but this time it didn’t.”
I bit my lip, trying to remind myself that maybe I didn’t know the full story. Maybe Adam was holding something back from me, but the truth was, Matt had texted last night, and I still hadn’t answered.
I couldn’t bring myself to. I couldn’t even figure out what I wanted to say to him.
The truth was, I was scared that I would confront him, and I wasn’t so sure that I really wanted to know the truth behind any of his past.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and sunk down into the tub, letting the warmth lull me to sleep.
Of course, that didn’t last long. I hadn’t been in the tub for very long whe
n I heard the front door open.
“Hey,” Adam said, “what’s up?”
“Just thought we could chill, you know since you and my sister aren’t hanging out tonight.” Josh sounded thrilled.
My heart raced as I sat up. Shit. Shit. Shit, I thought. Maybe they will just go out. Yes. They had never stayed here before. Ever. So why would they now? I mean, it would just be silly for them to stay, right? I bit my lip. Please leave.
“What’s the plan?”
“I figured we could order some pizza and play video games.”
I groaned. It’s like my brother was trying to be an asshole.
“Where is your sister?”
“What? Worried she’s out with another guy?” Josh laughed softly. “No need to worry; she’s just in the tub. You’re welcome to try and go see her if you want. I doubt she’ll be very okay with it—”
“Er, no that’s not what I mean. I just … never mind.”
75. Chapter Twenty-three
Josh’s eyes sparkled. I could tell what he was thinking. He thought I wanted to see his sister, and part of him was right, but it was more that I was worried about who she could be with.
“I told her already, if you two want—”
“Really, it wasn’t about me wanting … anything,” although I wasn’t going to mention the fact that we’d slept together, “I just … wanted to make sure she wasn’t out with someone.” Josh raised an eyebrow. I knew the way I had said it didn’t really make it sound any better. I cleared my throat, knowing I had to explain myself. “There was this guy who was working at the company … he was just … shady. That’s all.” I wasn’t going to mention the arrests or what they were for.
We headed into the living room.
“So you’re keeping an eye out on my little sister?”
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 49