Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (48 page)

“What is your fault? What do you mean
she’s gone?” I stood up from my chair, just to make the whole act seem more
genuine. “Did she go back home for a bit?”

“No,” she said sounding upset. “She’s
gone. Forever. I am so sorry, Zay. She said that she is in love with someone
else and she was only staying with you for my sake and it wasn’t fair to
anybody. I thought she was joking at first.” She was breathing heavily. “But
then… but then…”

“Mom, sit down,” I said, holding her by
the shoulders. “Take a deep breath and tell me everything. What did Gina say to
you?”

“That she is,” she covered her face in her
hands and started crying hysterically. “She is in love with someone else and
she thought she could do this for me but she really couldn’t and to tell you
she’s sorry.”

“She didn’t even have the decency to tell
me so herself?” I asked, pretending to look disappointed. “And that’s the girl
you thought was perfect for me?”

The crying grew louder, and a sinister
part of me felt good about the fact that I had managed to manipulate the master
manipulator. I was, after all, her son. All that stress she gave me from trying
to kill herself; this was but a small payback. And she could never threaten to
pull that shit again; as far as she knew, she had caused me great grief by
bringing Gina back into my life.

“I am so, so sorry, Zayden. I really
thought – I thought she loved you and she would be good for you. I never would
have suggested she come back into your life if I knew she would bail on you
like this.”

“Just when I was beginning to accept her
back into my life too,” I said dolefully. “What have I done to deserve this
shit?”

“Nothing,” she said looking up finally.
“Nothing at all. This is all my fault, Zay. From now on I will never try to
interfere in your life again. I want to be there for you and I have realized
that the best way to do so is to leave you be. I am leaving to go back West
over the weekend. Unless,” she looked at me hopefully. “Unless I can be there
for you in some way by staying? Help you get through the heartbreak.”

“I think you have done enough,” I said.
“You meant well and I really appreciate it. But I am hurt right now and need
some time alone to recuperate. Is that okay with you?” I added the last bit
trying to seem as earnest as possible.

“Of course, but if you need anything at
all, I am just a phone call away,” she exclaimed and hugged me tight.

“I know that, mom.” I grinned behind her
back.

For the first time in my entire life, I
had managed to outsmart my mother. And in some ways I had Aria to thank for it.
I was now the ultimate manipulator.

---

Now that most of the issue was taken care
of, I began to fully appreciate the situation I was in; it was, in fact,
perfect! There were only two days until the next payment needed to be made on
Aria’s mother’s hospital bill, and she still did not know whether I was going
to make it or not. In other words, I had complete and utter control over how
our dynamic proceeded once again. And man, had I missed being in this position.

When I went into work the next day, I
didn’t even so much glance at Aria because I wanted to let her continue
believing that I was done with her. If she wanted things to be different, she
would have to come to me this time. Maybe I would even make her beg… after all,
I did suffer a great deal for her sake, and she needed to not only know that,
but appreciate it fully so that she would never try and make things difficult
for me again.

The few times I did look up towards her
booth, I caught her staring at my office, to my great satisfaction. She
obviously wanted to run in here and ask me what was going on, especially since
I never even replied to her email. Well, she was free to walk in any minute;
she just wouldn’t get any prodding from my end.

To my great surprise, she never came in
the whole day, and when I saw her begin to leave from work that evening, I
almost reached out to her myself. But I had to have better restraint, if things
were going to go my way from now on. I couldn’t let my need to talk to her
overcome me, since I was trying hard to never show another sign of weakness.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to test myself for much longer because soon after she
left the bank, my phone rang. It was her, so I thumbed the talk button.

“You have decided to speak to me then,” I
answered the phone.

She didn’t speak for what felt like almost
a whole minute, after which she said, “I sent you an email!”

“How thoughtful,” I said sardonically. “I
sit ten feet away from you.”

“You never wrote back,” she said softly.

“I had nothing to say. What did you want
me to say?”

“
I don
’t know. Our contract. What is going on, Zayden? Just
tell me, are we still doing this?”

“Last I remember, you wanted desperately
to get out of this contract,” I scoffed. Perhaps I should have stopped; I had
already given her enough of a scare, but there was something about the feeling
of being powerful that I just could not pass up on.

“That’s not true,” she snapped.
“Obviously, if I emailed you asking where you stand on the contract, it means
I’
m still in.
”

“I think,” I said with a triumphant smile.
“I think you need to revisit the dictionary in reference to what constitutes
the word ‘obvious.’ In no way have you said to me that you want to continue the
contract. You need to, I mean.”

“Look, I know what you’re trying to do and
I’m not biting. Just skip the games, Zayden. Do you want this or not?”

“What am I trying to do?” I asked
pretending to sound surprised. “It’s pretty funny that you think you know
something I am supposedly doing that I don’t know myself, don’t you think?”

“You want me to beg,” she said simply.
“You want me to tell you just how much I need this and how I will do anything
to continue the contract.”

“Well, then?”

“Are you definitely getting rid of your
ex?”

“Already done it, thanks to you.”

“Sarcasm?”

“No, not at all!” I exclaimed. “Because
you put me in a situation where I had no choice but to end it with her–”

“You had a choice,” she sounded delighted
now. “You always have a choice.”

“
Aria, don
’t be such a smart ass. As I was saying, since I had
no choice in the matter, I had to come up with a way to end it with Gina in a
way that best suited everyone involved. Without that kind of a pressure to get
on this right away, I probably would have been trapped forever.”

“What pressure? I didn’t put any pressure
on you!”

“Right,” I scoffed. “None at all. I am not
complaining, Aria. You did me quite the favor.”

“So your mother?”

“She will not be giving me, herself, or
anyone else any more trouble.”

“You sound like you murdered her,” she
said giggling.

“I wish,” I joked. “I just played her own
games against her so she now feels responsible for ruining my life. Petty
details, really. But let’s stick to what is important. The contract. You were
saying? Something about really, really needing–”

“I didn’t say that,” she said, the defiant
tone back. “Your ex is gone, then, that is good news. And how about who I am
allowed to speak with?”

“Whoever the hell you want, Aria,” I said
earnestly. “As long as I am the only one touching your perfect little body.”

My own words ignited a surge of desire in
my body, and by the sudden silence that had befallen on the other end, I
suspected it had the same effect on Aria.

“
I don
’t want anyone else to touch me,” she said eventually.
“Isn’t that obvious by now, Zayden? That’s why there never was any reason to be
jealous. The fact that you couldn’t see that pissed me off almost as much as
your trying to control my life.”

“What, you thought I couldn’t trust you?”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“Why else would you put restrictions on
who I was talking to?” She asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Because I don’t like the thought of
stupid assholes mentally undressing you every time they talk to you. And as a
stupid asshole who does that every time myself, take it from me, they all do. I
have come to think of undressing you – mentally or otherwise – as a privilege
that is exclusive to me.”

“Well, you can’t control what other guys
think, but nobody else is actually undressing me any time soon. So you need to
calm down, and take out all the controlling clauses from the contract.”

“If there still is a contract,” I said,
pushing it only a little bit further. It would all be over soon but I had to
have a bit more fun. “Come over the day after tomorrow and we will take it from
there. I will make sure that Ned will–”

“No,” she cut me off. “No Ned, just send
me the address and I will be there, okay? I can drive, you know?”

“
Look, Aria,
” I said, frustrated. “If I send a car to
pick you up, I am not making some sexist statement about how I don’t think you
are capable of doing something yourself. It just means that sometimes I feel
like taking care of you, even though you are perfectly capable of doing so.
It’s how I show I care.”

That seemed to have the desired effect, as
she now seemed okay with Ned picking her up.

“Fine. See you then.”

After we hung up, I felt more excited than
I had in a long time. The thought of Aria in my house, in my bed, in every
other part of my room, naked, was enough to keep me going gleefully the next
two days.

Chapter 7

Aria

“So let me get this straight: you are
going over to see the guy tomorrow, in his house, without being certain your
mother’s bill will get paid on time?”

I shrugged. What was she expecting me to
say? Like I hadn’t considered this in my head over and over again. Too afraid
to ask him directly about the money and how it was due in two days, I had
instead devised a careful plan, which would hopefully help him make the right
decision in my favor. Stacey, unfortunately, did not sound very convinced by my
plan.

“I can list at least a hundred ways in
which you showing up at his house in a super sexy outfit and seducing him into
submission can go wrong.”

“Well, do you see me having any sort of a
choice here?”

She looked like she was deep in thought
for a moment. “I mean, no, not really, but I am worried, Aria. This guy has
already hurt you once.”

“Yes, but he also ended a long off-and-on
relationship with his ex-wife and risked the wrath of his mother for me. It’s
kind of sweet?” I said hopefully, trying to phrase it into a question.

“Oh he’s sweet, alright. That has never
quite been in question. He has been a sweetheart to you since day one.” She saw
my raised eyebrow and paused. “What? All those flowers and that dress and he
sent your work for publication!”

“And he showed up at school,” I said, just
remembering. “I forgot to tell you?”

“What do you mean he showed up at school?”

“He came as a guest lecturer in Mr.
Weber’s class after I didn’t speak to him for two weeks.”

Stacey burst out laughing. “This guy! I
don’t even know what to think. I mean, well it’s kind of obvious that he is in
love with you, isn’t it?”

“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down there, don’t
go around throwing big words out like that,” I said, pretending to be
horrified, when in reality the thought of what she said made me feel delighted.

“Come on, Aria!” Stacey’s whole face was
lightening up in realization, as though this conclusion should have occurred to
her a while ago. “It makes perfect sense! That’s why he didn’t want you talking
to Dick; because he is in love with you so he got jealous! Not because it was
in some stupid contract.”

“Yeah, he kind of admitted to being
jealous,” I said thinking back to our phone conversation. “But that does not
mean he is in love with me! It has nothing to do with it.”

“Yes it does,” she said a different voice,
and I realized Nick had been standing by the door and listening to our
conversation the whole time. “
Guys
don
’t
just get jealous unless they have genuine feelings for a girl.”

“Well, he did have feelings… feelings of
control! Feelings that he owned me because he gave me money, and…you get the
gist.”
I smiled at Nick.
“How
long have you been standing there anyway?”

“Heard the important bits,” he said and
shrugged. “And Stacey is right, the dude is obviously in love with you, but you
need to be cautious given… prior circumstances.”

“What do you guys want me to do, exactly?”
I asked, annoyed because it seemed like they were ganging up on me somehow.
“Let the hospital bills not be paid? Let my mom lose everything?”