(2 Book Box Set) Loving The White Billionaire: 2 & 3 (9 page)

A
xel and I were on our way to my apartment in the
city. The doctor had reported that my dad needed his rest and that they only
allowed one overnight guest at a time. My brothers went back to Mom’s house to
get her some clothes, and also to stay there so that it wouldn’t be empty. On
the way home, we stopped at a fast food joint and were now eating in the living
room.

Compared to every hotel and even Axel’s home in Tuscany, my
home was by far the least impressive. I noticed immediately when I turned the
lights on. Though I was proud of my little apartment, still, I felt a little
self-conscious. Though in Axel fashion, he put my mind at ease by how
comfortably he’d slumped down on my couch, and kicked his feet up on the coffee
table.

“This is the most comfortable place away from home by far!”
he’d said before diving into his burger.

“I’m really glad you think so, I was a little worried.”

“Don’t be, you’ve done a great job with this place,” he said
approvingly.

After we finished eating, we decided to stay up and watch a scary
movie. I’d never been able to watch anything like this with Ethan, and it was a
very nice change. There were several points of the movie that Axel had to calm
me down, and pull my hands away from my eyes. There was one point where I even
jumped and screamed, to Axel’s amusement, of course.

When the movie finally came to an end, I felt the need to
watch something less scary, and more childlike. It was always something I did
to help me sleep at night. Axel thought it was cute how I watched the cartoons
like I was genuinely interested in them, but I was.

“You’re adorable, you know that?” he asked.

“Oh come on, like you don’t watch cartoons?”

“Not like that. I used to be hooked on watching Popeye. But
I stopped after my dad died; he reminded me too much of him.”

“That must’ve been hard for you to deal with.”

“It was at first, but at the same time it wasn’t,” he said.

“I remember the story you told me about how he buried your
dog. I got the message then.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t a very kind man, but he was my father,”
Axel’s hands were in my hair as he spoke.

“So, speaking of family, do you want to run away yet?” I
asked.

“Are you kidding me? You’re brothers crack me up. They will
come around eventually because they love you,” he told me with sincerity.

“Let’s get to bed; I think if I stay up any longer I’ll pass
out on this couch,” I said before releasing myself from his grip.

“Ok, honey, lead the way.”

I realized that I hadn’t tidied up before I’d left for
Puerto Rico. There were bras hanging up on the knob of my bathroom door, a
thong dangled from the corner of my closet door, and there were magazines all
over the bed.

Flying around the room like a tornado, I all but avoided eye
contact with Axel until I was done. Every place that I’d been to with Axel was
spotless, even his home in Tuscany. So to come here to a less than clean place
was a little out of order and not to mention embarrassing.

Axel laughed and undressed as soon as I was finished. Our
clothes were still in the trunk of the car, but none of us were in the mood to
go get them. So instead of pajamas, we settled for just our underwear. Curling
up under the sheets for comfort, we finally made it to sleep.

***

I awoke at exactly nine AM. As soon
as my eyes were open, that was it. Sleep left my body, and I was ready to get
going. I had to go down to the hospital to see my dad. Sitting up in my bed, I
turned to look down at Axel to notice that he was still sleeping. I didn’t want
to wake him, so I gingerly made my way towards the bathroom to start getting
ready.

By the time I was finished, Axel still had not woken up.
Reaching out to grab my notepad from the bedside table, I found a pen and wrote
a message to him. Leaving it on my pillow, I kissed his cheek and made my way
to the door.

I had completely forgotten about the luggage in the trunk
until I arrived at the hospital. There was nothing that I could do about it
now. As I walked, I started thinking about my family and their reaction. I
wondered how relaxed they would be and how easier it would be with just me
here.

Though I instantly felt guilty for thinking that. For
actually feeling relieved that Axel was not going to be there made me feel like
a bad girlfriend. Though truthfully, I just wanted to enjoy my family without
having them strung so high.

When I entered the room, I noticed immediately how different
the family was. They were calm, there was no hostility, and I felt like I had
my family back. Samuel even gave me a hug, while of course Lucas followed suit.
When I got to my mom, she threw her arms around me and kissed my cheek.

My dad was still sleeping, but my mom said that he did wake
up that night and stayed up with her until the early morning. I was relieved
that he wasn’t in some sort of coma. I took a seat next to my dad on the bed.
The boys were watching, while mom hummed a melodic tune while crocheting powder
blue yarn.

“So how have you been? I know you’re tired,” I commented on
the bags under her eyes.

“Oh well you know, I got a few hours here and there, but I’m
ok,” she said.

“Well, if you need to go home and take a nap, Sam, Luke, and
I can just stay here and wait for him to wake up.”

“That’s ok baby. I’m doing just fine,” she said sleepily.

“So,” Samuel asked while bringing over a chair, “Where’s white
boy?” he asked, his chocolate brown head glistening in the sunlight.

“He’s back at my place,” I answered.

“Oh! I thought we’d run him off,” Sam said while Luke turned
to join in on the conversation.

“Not even close; he didn’t even know that I’d left,” I said
trying to defend him.

“Well, ain’t that suspicious,” Luke commented.

“It’s not even like that.”

“Then why did you leave without waking him up? Are you sure
you’re just not realizing how pointless this relationship is?” Samuel pointed
out.

“I’m not having this conversation with you,” I said, and
abruptly stood to storm out of the room.

I hated when my brother thought he knew what was best for
me. He was only older than me by four years, what gave him the right to comment
on my life? I reached into my back pocket for my phone. The time was ten thirty,
and I noticed that Axel had not yet woken up.

That or he was too angry to call me after I’d just left him.
I instantly regretted my decision to leave him alone. This made me look really
suspicious, although I truly hated to admit it. Maybe it wasn’t suspicion,
maybe it was a fact.

Maybe Samuel was right about the whole situation. I felt
very strongly for Axel, and he felt the same, but we have only known each other
for a short time.

My phone buzzed, snapping me out of my negative thoughts and
grabbing my attention. I felt my stomach drop to my knees before I slid the
button to answer the call.

“Good morning, Axel, how did you sleep?”

“I slept ok, how about you honey?” he asked. His voice was
light and friendly.

“Great, I woke up early…”

“So you decided to go to the hospital instead of waking me
up to go with you,” he stated simply.

“I’m sorry; I just didn’t want to wake you.”

“You could’ve at least theft my clothes for me. I realize
that our relationship in public and social situations is going to be hard at
first; that’s why we have to face those obstacles together.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to take the easy way out of things like these,
because that’s cheating both of us,” Axel said truthfully. I knew what he was
saying was right.

“I’m coming home, and then we’ll come back together around
dinner time.”

“How long have you been there?” he asked concerned.

“Just a little over an hour; my brothers are there, they’ll
keep my mom company.”

“Did something happen?”

“Snakes on a Plane was just running his mouth again.”

“Haha! You and your Samuel Jackson references!” Axel
commented with a hearty laugh.

“I’ve done that since I knew who Sam Jackson was. I just
always thought it was weird that my mom would name him after the movies star.
You know how embarrassing that is?” I said trying to keep my laughter down so I
could be understood.

“I nearly died trying to keep it in the first time. I could
feel my face turning red,” Axel laughed.

“Sorry, I’ll try and keep it under wraps so you don’t lose
composure.”

“Haha! Thank you, I appreciate that.” 

“Are you hungry, Ax?”

“A little bit, I’ve wanted some Denny’s for a while now.”

“Oh good, there’s a Denny’s right across the street from the
apartments.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I guess you can get ready once I bring you your clothes,” I
said.

“Don’t feel too guilty, I can at least take a shower.”

“Ok, be there in ten.”

When I got to the apartment, Axel was dressed in boxer
shorts. I was surprised; had he gotten those throughout the night? Closing the
front door behind me, I walked in closer to scrutinize them. They felt new.
Where had he gotten new underwear from?

“You had a pack of underwear under the bed along with some
shirts, some pants, and shoes. Were they for Ethan?”

“Actually no, they were for his brother. He’d stored them
here one weekend so his brother wouldn’t find them, but we forgot. Anyways,
they’re up for grabs.”

“Cool deal.”

“You’re going to look so sexy in these,” I said with
excitement as I pulled out the outfit and set it on the bed.

“You think?”

“Yeah are you kidding me? This dark blue jacket, those blue eyes
and these slate gray pants, are definitely going to contrast well and show off
that bod,” I said with a wink.

W
e both turned heads as we walked down the street to
Denny’s. We’d parked the car not too far from the restaurant, and decided the
fresh air would do us some good. Sitting down at the booth, we ordered our food
and waited for its arrival.

“I figured that we’d bring Chinese food since my mom loves
it so much.”

“I’m sure she’d like that.”

“They haven’t called me since I left though.”

“Did you not let them know you were leaving?” Axel asked
before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Not exactly. Sam and I got into it, and I just stood up and
walked out. I probably missed my Dad waking up,” I said with a frown.

“You’ll get to see his eyes eventually, honey, I’m sure of
it.”

Axel reached out his hand to rest it against mine in
comfort. His reassuring outlook put me at ease for the moment before our food
came to the table. As we ate, we actually discussed quite a different topic,
which was my job status. Axel told me the parameters of what he wanted to be
done, and what needed to be done to run the company’s accounts smoothly.

It didn’t seem too different from working at the law firm,
save for the legal jargon. I noticed immediately that this was going to be a
challenge for me at first. But I accepted challenges as they came to me. I was
looking forward to my first day at the company. I asked him when I would be
starting, but he only gave me the date of my interview.

“So what if I don’t pass the interview?” I asked honestly.

“I have faith in you that you will, but if you don’t, I can
still have you do accountant work at one of my other smaller businesses. You’d
be making the same exact amount, though you wouldn’t be able to travel as
much.”

“I’m hoping that you feel enough confidence in me to work
for you,” I said thinking about the farm house back in Tuscany.

“I have the utmost faith in you, Jaida. You’re smart, your
head is on your shoulders, and you have remarkable intuition. I’m pretty sure
you’ll pass my interview,” Axel said before tossing back the rest of his
coffee.

“Aren’t you a box of compliments?”

“They’re not compliments; so much as they are truths. But
regardless, you’re welcome.”

“Your check, I’ll take those plates for you,” the waitress
said before disappearing behind the counter.

We quickly made it out of the restaurant and down the street
to my car. Just as I reached the door to open it, Axel snatched me into his arms,
and took my lips in a deep and hungry kiss. His body was pressed firmly against
mine as my back met with the cool metal of the car door.

My temperature rose against the temperature of the
atmosphere. My skin tingled with every touch and every flick of the tongue. I
moaned against his firm grasp, and just before we got to the point of no
return, Axel broke the embrace with a smacking of lips and heavy breathing.

“Holy crap Axel, what was that?” I asked.

“A preview of tonight when I get you home,” he said
seductively against my lips before rubbing his hard length against my belly.

“I love when you do things like this. It’s so erotic,” I
said my bottom lip between my teeth.

“I’m glad, because there’s more where that came from,” he
said before giving me a firm slap on my bottom.

“Damn Ax…What was that?” I asked.

“I think your phone vibrated the second my hand connected.”

Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled it out to notice that
Luke was calling me. When I answered the phone, his voice was muffled. I
thought that maybe it was my phone, so I walked away to try and get some
signal. 

“Lucas?”

“Yeah, Jaida, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, is everything ok with Dad?”

“Yeah, he just woke up. I thought I’d let you know so you
can come and see him.”

“I’m on my way!” I said, and hung up the phone with a quick
thank you.

“Your dad woke up?” Axel asked excitedly.

“Yes, we have to hurry before he goes back to sleep!” I said
getting in the driver’s side before Axel got in.

Backing out of the parking space, I barely drove within the
speed limit. I weaved in and out of traffic, and ran every yellow light.
Nothing was going to stop me from seeing my dad. When we finally arrived at the
hospital, Axel suggested that I pull up front, while he stayed behind to find a
parking space.

Complying with his great suggestion, I jumped out of the car,
and ran through the doors of the hospital. I tried not to run through the halls
like a child, but my excitement was way too strong. When I finally got in the
room, my dad was laying on the bed with his eyes on the TV.

“Daddy,” I said as I came closer.

“Hey baby!” he said weakly, but excitedly.

“Oh, I’m so glad I got to see you before you fell asleep
again.”

“Well, you caught me just in time. This medicine they have
me on is whipping my butt,” he said before taking in a huge yawn.

“She came back as soon as I told her you were checked in,” my
mom said. I hadn’t even noticed the other people in the room.

“Your Aunt was in here just a few minutes ago. She said she
was upset that she missed you, and that she wants you to go by when you can.”

“I will, I also want to swing by and see Josie.”

“Josie…now that’s a crazy child right there,” Dad said as I
held his hand between my two.

“She is. Are you getting tired again?” I asked as his eyes
began to drift away.

“Yes, baby, I’ll wake up around dinner time, just swing by
and see me. I love you.”

“I love you too Daddy,” I said before laying his hand down
by his side.

“You have a good rest, honey,” Mom comforted before he
closed his eyes and sleep.

“Have the doctors said anything else?” I asked after sitting
down next to dad on the bed.

“He has to have surgery. There’s a lot of plaque building
up; they need to get it out before it becomes too severe.”

“Oh no, when is it scheduled?”

“Friday at eleven.”

“How is insurance covering everything?”

“Barely; his stay is going to cost us our mortgage.”

“No! maybe there is something else we could do? I can help
out with the hospital bill.”

“Open heart surgery costs three hundred and twenty-four
thousand dollars.”

My eyes bugged out of my head when I heard that. I was so
focused on the price that I hadn’t realize that Axel was standing in the
doorway. Apparently neither did anyone else. As Axel walked through the door. I
heard Samuel take an exaggerated deep breath and watched Luke look away. I
rolled my eyes as they curtly exchanged hellos. My mom was more polite, but
still wasn’t as polite as she could have been. It seemed forced.

“I went back to the apartment to get Axel once he woke up.”

“I didn’t know that, none of us did, you just walked out
without telling any of us anything,” Sam started.

“Don’t start with me Samuel,” I said dismissively.

“Where did you two go?” Mom asked.

“We just stopped in at Denny’s for a bite to eat.”

“And you didn’t think to offer anything to us?” Sam asked in
a manner that told me he was just trying to get under my skin.

“Don’t think I didn’t smell the French toast when I first
got here,” I pointed out.

“Why can’t you all just shut up for once? Your differences
in opinion should not dictate how you act in your relationships with each
other,” my mom interjected.

“Thank you, mom,” I said sincerely.

“Now I want peace and quiet, if you have anything to say to
each other, it better be something nice. If you don’t have anything nice to
say, shut the hell up.”

With that, the room went silent, which wasn’t a completely
bad thing. It was actually nice for a change to hear only the sound of the TV,
and occasional laughter. By the time six rolled around, my dad still hadn’t
woken up, but the rest of us were, and we were getting hungry.

I offered to go and pick up some food, and Samuel and Lucas
decided to tag along with me. At first I thought Axel may feel uncomfortable
staying with my mom, but he seemed at ease. So I left with confidence knowing
that Axel would be all right.

When we got to the Chinese food store, Samuel ordered and
paid for all of our meals; including Axel’s and would not accept the money that
Axel had offered. It was definitely a big show in pride. Though there was no
contest, Samuel still had to show that he was a man.

“I don’t need his money. I got my own. This is my family,
not his. Just because I’m not rich does not mean I can’t afford some damn
Chinese food?”

“You know what, you’re really ridiculous. What is your big
issue?” I asked.

“The man is white Jaida! Since when have you dated white
men? There’s enough good black men in San Francisco?”

“It’s not like I sought him out! We just happened to meet,”
I said crossing my arms in aggravation.

“What I don’t get is the fact that you so easily went out
with this guy! Especially just after calling off your wedding! It’s not like
you and Ethan dated for only a short time! You guys were together for so many
years!” he stated.

“And things went sour and they ended! Things like this
happen all the time! Why am I even having this conversation with you? I don’t
have to explain my love life, my life decisions, or my priorities to you!”

I hadn’t realized that we were yelling until Lucas finally
interjected. He placed his hand gently on my shoulder, and nudged me a little
bit to snap me back into the moment. Samuel turned abruptly and collected our
food before storming past me and out of the store.

Apologizing to the owners, I turned around, and made my way
towards the car with Luke. When we got in, the smell of freshly made Chinese
food permeated throughout the car and into our nostrils.

“I don’t want you to hate me, sis. I just don’t want you to
get hurt,” Sam said softly.

“Stop worrying about me, I’m an adult now, I’m not a little
baby anymore.”

“I’ve seen interracial relationships fail one after the
other and all of them due to the fact that they deal with too much stress.
Society will never accept the fact that you are a black woman dating a rich white
man. You will be judged and teased and ridiculed for it. I can’t protect you
from that, and that bothers the hell out of me,” Sam said sincerely.

“We’re not telling you what to do here, Jaida, we’re just
hoping that you’ll make the right decision,” Lucas pointed out calmly.

“Thank you for your concern. I know you two love me, but you
have to calm down with the protective brother instinct. Axel is a god guy. Just
focus on that, please, that’s all I ask,” and before they could respond, I got
out of the car and made my way towards the building.