FOREVER BELOVED (Billionaire Love Series) (15 page)

“You’re welcome.” His manners were intact.
His mama had raised him well.

“Do you get down here a lot?” he
questioned.

“Not as much as I’d like. But it’s a cool
place to recharge.”

“Man, if I were you, I would be down here all
the time. I can only imagine the epic parties you throw down
here.”

“Yeah, I’ve had some sweet parties here and
they do tend to get a little wild.”

“I bet they get a lot wild.” His face filled
with an excited curiosity that begged to be satisfied.

I wasn’t about to discuss that curiosity with
my kid.

I shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe. But a
gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

His eyes flashed with even more curiosity.
“Yeah, what else doesn’t a gentleman tell?”

“He never asks a woman her age and when she
says, ‘How does this look?’ a gentleman always says,
‘Beautiful.’”

“Yeah, my mom already taught me that. What
else you got?”

He wasn’t pulling any punches and I decided
to be real. “I don’t know, Charlie. The world is a cruel place. I
go after what I want and try not to fuck up. I protect what’s mine
and destroy anyone who tries to stand in my way.”

“Where does my mom fit into that code of
ethics you just spouted off?” His bright brown eyes were full of
challenge.

“Now, that’s different.”

“How?”

“Your mom and I have history. A lot of it’s
great, but it ended badly between us. Your mom broke my heart.”

“Tell me. I wanna know your side of
things.”

His words scraped against the scar with
Marla’s name on it.

“What do you want to know?” I managed to ask,
despite being uncomfortable.

“Tell me about her in high school. What was
she like?”

“I’ve never really talked about it,” I said,
burying my toes in the wet sand.

“Then here’s your chance.”

I cleared my throat, trying to figure out
what to say. “Your mom was something else. She knocked me on my ass
when I first met her.”

“She did?”

“Yep. I had to bring my A game to show her I
was a good guy.”

“She made you work hard?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve never worked so hard in my
life to get someone’s attention. I even wrote a poem, a very bad
poem, to win her over. Your mom’s kind of old-fashioned. She
demanded I court her, so I did and in the process, I fell hard for
her. I thought she loved me too, but turns out, I was wrong.”

He scoffed. “I find that hard to
believe.”

“Ask her. She’ll tell you.”

“It just doesn’t jive with anything I know
about my mom.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, kid. It was a long
time ago.”

“But yet, here we are. Do you hate her for
what she did?”

“I don’t hate your mom. It’s just
complicated. There’s a lot of history between us and it affects the
way I see her.”

“Maybe there’s more to the story than you
understand. I know my mom doesn’t have a mean bone in her
body.”

I was done with this line of questioning.
“You hungry?”

“I’m starving.” He rubbed his flat
stomach.

“Let’s go get a bite to eat.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.”

We dropped off our boards and changed back
into our clothing.

Grabbing one of the jeeps I owned, we took
off for town and ended up at an outdoor bar with a thatched roof.
It had juicy burgers and cold beer. It was one of the best places
on the island to eat.

We ordered after we sat down, Charlie asking
for two hamburgers.

“Are you still growing?” I asked, glancing at
his 6’2 frame.

“Nah, surfing just makes me crazy
hungry.”

“I remember those days. Burning fuel faster
than you can eat it. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“I will.”

Ten minutes later, our food arrived and we
dug in as if it was our last meal.

“So why did you bring my mom down here in the
first place?” Charlie asked as soon as he took a breath from
eating.

I put down my burger. “We had some business
to take care of.”

“What kind of business?”

I knew Marla wanted me to wait, but I needed
to talk to him man to man about his trust.

“So you know I’m rich, right?” I asked
pointedly.

“Yeah, like a gazillionaire,” he said,
stuffing some fries in his mouth.

I smiled at his terminology. “Not quite a
gazillionaire, but I am a billionaire.”

He shrugged, not impressed by my net worth.
“Same difference. Either way, it’s a whole lotta cash.”

“It is and that brings me to why your mom is
here in the Bahamas. I set up a trust for you.”

He took a slow drink from his soda. “What
kind of money are we talking about?”

“About a hundred million dollars.”

His mouth fell open, his brown eyes wide with
shock. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. You won’t come into the money
until you’re thirty and show me you can handle the responsibility
of it, though.”

“How do I do that?”

“You come to work for me. You experience my
company from the ground up. You’ll come in and start in the mail
room.”

“The mail room?”

“Yes. Everybody in a company matters and I
want you to know that by working each layer of it.”

He smiled. “Do you get subscriptions to Maxim
and Sports Illustrated?”

“Ha-ha. Money isn’t just about having fun.
You have to know how to manage it and pay it forward.”

“It’s a lot to process, man. But thank you
for your awesome generosity.”

“My pleasure, Charlie. You’re my legacy and I
want to provide for you.”

“That’s like providing for a small
country.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is.” I took a
swig of my beer. “So tell me what do you want to do with your
life?”

“That’s a pretty serious question.”

“You’re gonna need a game plan, Charlie.
Plus, I’m curious about what you’ve dreamed about doing.”

“I’m only twenty-two. I haven’t gotten it all
figured out yet.”

“When I was twenty-two, I thought I’d play
hockey forever,” I admitted.

“What was that like?”

He didn’t have to ask me twice. “Oh, man.
Insane. Games every other night. The crowd hollering my name.
Scoring in a clutch situation, like game seven of a play-off
series. Nothing compares to it anymore...” I trailed off, suddenly
wishing Marla had been there to experience my hockey career with
me.

“Did you ever win the Stanley Cup?”

“In my fourth year, we did. We barely made it
into the play-offs by the skin of our teeth. Then we caught fire
and became unbeatable. Won it in six games.”

“Sounds amazing. That would have been awesome
to see while I was growing up.”

“Yeah, it would. I’m sorry it didn’t happen.
It would’ve been great to have you at my games.”

“Yes, it would’ve. But let’s celebrate today.
We had a great time surfing and now we have the best burgers on the
island in front us. That is worth another round of beers,” Charlie
said, asking the waiter for two more drinks.

“Here’s to finding out who my dad is and how
cool he turned out to be,” Charlie offered sincerely as he held up
his beer.

God, this kid was great.

He didn’t even seem to give a shit about the
money.

“Here’s to spending the day with my kid and
finding out what a fine young man he’s grown into. Cheers,
Charlie.” We clinked our bottles together and drank to our good
fortune.

After we downed that round, Charlie insisted
we order more. One beer turned into two, then three, and then we
added in some tequila shots that really got us buzzing.

Things got a little blurry after that.

Charlie found a straw island hat hanging on
the wall, put it on and danced with anyone who was open to it. I
watched, amused, along with the rest of the bar patrons.

Spurred on by the alcohol, he took it up
another notch as he hopped up on the bar, a drink in one hand, and
a desire to strip in the other.

He was a wild child with no shame.

While I got a kick out of it, I knew Marla
would kill me if he got hurt or made a fool of himself.

“Charlie, we gotta go, man,” I yelled as I
stood next to bar and “I Shot the Sheriff” belted out of the
restaurant’s speakers.

“But I was just getting started,” he called,
whipping off his shirt and twirling it over his head as the crowd
cheered him on.

He was not going to come easily. I needed to
do something.

“Party’s over.” I yanked on his leg. As he
tumbled forward, I caught him and put his large body over my
shoulder as I fought to stay upright.

“Whoo-hoo! That was fun. Let’s do it, again!”
he hollered as I put him down in the sand outside the bar.

“Let’s go home. I think you’ve had enough fun
for one evening.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Marla:

The last time I saw Beau and Charlie, they
were sitting on the beach talking. They sat the same way—backs
straight, displaying their broad shoulders as they wrapped their
arms around their bent knees.

I did my best to leave them alone.

I didn’t want to encroach on their guy
time.

When I checked on them again, they were gone
from the beach. I thought maybe they’d come back to the house, but
they weren’t around. I figured they went into town. I was glad they
were enjoying their time together.

As the night passed, I tried not to worry as
I read the latest mystery by Janet Evanovich. The hapless bounty
hunter, Stephanie Plum, and her crew were hilarious.

I attempted to get lost in the story, but as
the night grew darker, I couldn’t help but grow more concerned.
Chalk it up to my mother’s heart.

I tried Charlie’s and Beau’s cell phones, but
neither one of them answered. I left messages and hoped they were
having a good time. Around midnight, I heard the whine of a car
engine, so I went out front.

I was not pleased with what I found.

Beau and Charlie were in the bed of a yellow
Toyota truck, pretending to surf as it pulled into the estate.

“Hey, Mom!” Charlie called out drunkenly, as
the truck pulled around the circular driveway to the front of the
house.

I shook my head as I waited for them to
unload. It wasn’t pretty. Father and son could barely walk. They
came staggering up the stairs with their arms thrown over each
other’s shoulders, as if they had been buddies for years.

What the hell?

Was this really what father-son bonding time
looked like?

I didn’t want to be judgmental...but I was
feeling very judgy.

I tried to control my shocked reaction as I
took in their little drunken show, but it just added fuel to my
fire as they moved clumsily through the front door.

“Where have you been?” I asked worriedly as
Charlie tripped on the area rug, falling to his knees in a fit of
giggles.

“Is he drunk?” I asked, wanting conformation
of what was obvious.

“Affirmative, Mama. I am drunk.” He hugged
the rug, stroking it lovingly as if it was his long lost
blankie.

“Oh, he’s fine,” Beau slurred slightly as
Charlie staggered to his feet and stumbled forward, bumping into an
expensive end table and sending five artifacts crashing to the
floor.

The noise was horrendous as metal and marble
collided in a cacophony of destruction.

“Soorrry!” Charlie let out as he sunk to the
floor again.

Beau waved his hand dismissively. “It’s all
right, Charlie. It’s only about five hundred thousand dollars’
worth of antiques you ruined. I’ll just take it out of your
trust.”

“He-he...my trust,” Charlie laughed
hilariously. “Here, let me write you a check.” He pretended to
write a check out on his hand. “Here. Five hundred thousand
dollars.”

Beau examined his hand as if it really
contained something real. Both of them burst out laughing like it
was the funniest thing ever.

“You told him about the trust?” I asked in
outrage.

He shrugged. “Yeah, it kind of slipped
out.”

“I thought you were going to find a good time
to tell him. Really, while you drinking?”

Beau puckered his lips and blew a raspberry
at me. “Don’t worry. I took care of it before we started
drinking.”

I gave him a long stare, trying to figure out
what to say to him.

I was at a total loss. I had nothing.

Beau’s blurry glance suddenly grew fiery.
“He’s okay, Marla. Your boy is safe. That’s all you’re concerned
about, right?”

“I was worried about both of you. You
disappeared off the beach and then didn’t come back for hours.”

“We went out, had a good time, and now your
boy is home. Relax, mama bear.”

I wasn’t going to be talked into being okay
with this. “Your son is twenty-two. He sees you being all cool
drinking and he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. What did
you think was going to happen when you took him drinking out on the
town?”

Beau ran his hand through his hair. “Well,
Jesus, Marla. I don’t know how to do this. I can’t undo what the
kid did tonight.”

That attitude was not going to fly with me.
“So you’re gonna teach him to chase tail and drink his way through
his life?” I asked angrily.

“That is so unfair! This whole situation is
your fault! I didn’t have years to get good at this parenting thing
like you did!”

“I know you didn’t. But you’re still an
adult. One who should know better. You need to decide if you’re
going to be his friend or his dad.”

“Why do I have to make a choice?”

“Because that’s how it is.”

“Knock it off, you guys! I’m an adult. Stop
treating me like I’m a kid,” Charlie said, staggering to his feet.
“I can handle whatever Beau tells me. Stop trying to protect me,
Mom.” He glared daggers at me, as if I was the bad guy in all
this.

That stung.

I took a deep breath and tried to find
neutral ground. “You’re right. We’ll talk about it later. Why don’t
you go up to bed and I’ll check on you.”