Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
James
“What did she say?” We were standing on the sidewalk near the restaurant, looking out at the view of the harbor. Audrey was tense beside me, her face pale and resigned. I rubbed her back, trying to make her feel better.
“She just wanted to… check in.”
“Is everything okay?”
“No. Nothing’s ever okay when it comes to my mother. But it will be fine.”
I pulled her against me. “She wants more money.” Audrey nodded stiffly. “How did she know we were here?”
“The Tribune.”
“How much does she want?”
Audrey shook her head again. “She wants whatever she can get her hands on. Don’t worry about it—I took care of it.”
“I was pretty generous with her yesterday,” I said, watching the boats go by. “That was probably a mistake. I didn’t take into consideration… how far she might go.” I laced my fingers through Audrey’s, feeling sad and angry on her behalf. Even though I should know better from personal experience, I was still surprised that a mother could be so indifferent to her child.
Or maybe it was just because it was Audrey, and I couldn't understand how anyone would want to treat her that way.
“You mean you didn’t take into consideration that she would throw me under a bus? That she would jeopardize my job? Then you underestimated her. Or maybe you overestimated her,” she said. “She doesn’t care about me. Look what she did to Tommy this morning. She doesn’t care about anybody but herself.”
I pulled her to me. “Your mother is almost making my mother look half-decent.”
We both laughed. “They’re quite a pair,” Audrey said. She sighed and looked up at me. “James… my mother might try to pull something. She threatened to.”
“What?” I asked, but I already knew.
“Tell your family about me. Expose us. Blackmail anybody and everybody she can.”
“She won’t do that,” I said. “I won’t let her get that far.”
“You can’t give her any more money,” she said. “She won’t ever stop. I’ll pay her—I already promised I would—but she has to understand that you’re a one-and-done. Otherwise, she’ll keep coming back.” She looked at me, anxiety and stubbornness playing out on her face. “Promise me.”
“Not yet—I can help you. We’ll figure it out.” I looked back at the restaurant and sighed. “We have to go in there. Dinner’s going to start, and I don’t want to call attention to us.”
“Don’t you want me to just go?” she asked. “If I leave now, she won’t be able to do anything else. Cause any more trouble. I’m worried, James. She’ll stoop as low as she can. I don’t want your family finding out about me, and I don’t want her near any of you… because she could do anything, and it would be horrible.”
“Of course I don’t want you to go. Don’t be ridiculous.” I kissed her on the forehead, careful not to mess up her makeup. She looked beautiful. She’d dressed so carefully for the occasion. I’d watched her pick out her jewelry, selecting the perfect earrings, scowling at her reflection in the mirror until she felt confident with her choices. When we’d walked through those church doors together, and I turned to look at her, my heart had just about stopped.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” She exhaled shakily. “Can you imagine what your mother would say?”
“I don’t care.” I grabbed her hand, and we headed in to dinner. We’d been gone long enough. I didn’t want my mother getting fidgety, or worse, curious. I didn’t like the way she’d been talking to Audrey at the church—I shouldn’t have flaunted our togetherness last night at the Gardner like I had. I needed to protect Audrey from my mother, to shield her.
Both my mother and her mother needed to back off and leave her alone.
Leave us alone.
Audrey hung back, stopping before we went in. “I don’t want you to get hurt, James. I don’t want to drag you and your family down. I think I should just go.” She pulled away from me, like she was going to run.
“No. Stop,” I said, holding her firmly. Panic rose inside me. “I’m the one who hired you. You can’t drag me down—we’re in this together.” I pulled her to me. “We’re going to handle your mother, and then we’re going to handle mine. And once we stop panicking, we might even be able to enjoy it. I don’t want to do this without you. Please don’t go. Don’t even say it again.”
Her eyes searched my face. “Don’t you want me to, though? Think about it.” I could tell she meant it. She thought she would be sparing me.
“Are you hearing anything I’m saying?” I felt myself getting angry, and I struggled to control it. I didn’t want to hurt her any more right now. Her mother had been bad enough. I would have Kai just take her back to the apartment to free her from the rest of the evening, but I was worried she’d be gone by the time I got back.
“No, I don’t want you to go. I want you with me. And I want this to be the end of the discussion. Can you do that for me? Can you put on your game face?”
We just looked at each other for a beat.
“Of course,” she said finally, relenting. She fake-smiled at me.
“Fake-smile more. Put your back into it,” I ordered. Her smile widened, and the actress was back. “You’re good. You’re really, really good.”
She gave out one last shaky sigh. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she said, making herself grin at me.
For better or for worse, Cole and Jenny were at the rehearsal dinner.
“Dre!” Jenny whooped, coming up and giving Audrey a jiggly hug. “This place is frickin’ amazing!”
Audrey smiled at her, but the smile was laced with worry. “It’s gorgeous. Just like you—you’re looking really good, Jenny.”
Jenny tossed her curls and modeled her gold-lamé dress. “Coley bought it for me.”
“Coley?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at my friend. “For real?”
He slapped me on the shoulder hard. “For real, bro. So shut up.” He dragged me to the long table where my entire family was seated, along with Evie’s family, all sorts of cousins, and friends. My father sat at the head of the table, resplendent in a suit, my ice pick of a mother at his side. I deposited Audrey with Cole and Jenny at one end of the table and went up to where Todd and Evie sat looking happy and excited. I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, and I raised it.
“I’d like to make a toast,” I said. All eyes turned to me except for my mother, who was watching Audrey and Jenny with a thinly veiled look of distaste on her face. But Audrey was watching me, a smile on her face now that looked real. She nodded at me in encouragement.
For once, I wanted to do something nice. I was tired of all the ugly. There’d been too much underbelly today. I had to be positive… for once.
“My baby brother is all grown up,” I said and patted him on the shoulder. “And I’m happy to announce he’s marrying the woman that he loves. Evie, I know that you love my brother. I do. Seeing you two together for the past week has been inspiring. I expect good things for you in the future.” My mother had turned to me now, most likely surprised. She was probably waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“So I’d like to toast the happy couple. Cheers to your wedding tomorrow, and for a lifetime of happiness to follow.” Everyone cheered, and I leaned down to Todd. “I mean it,” I said and gripped his shoulder. “I’m happy for you.”
He gave me a surprised smile. “Stop,” he said sheepishly.
“Don’t make him cry,” Evie said teasingly. She beamed at Todd. “He’s so alpha tonight.” They started kissing, and I took that as my cue to leave quickly. I sat down next to Audrey and pulled her face into my hands. I gave her a long, lingering kiss, for the moment not caring about all the radar in the world.
Maybe my mother would see that I was happy for the first time. Maybe she would soften toward Audrey.
Maybe… but probably not.
Hope is a four-letter word, I thought, but I pulled Audrey close to me anyway.
Cole draggedme to the bar after dinner. The girls had gone to the ladies’ room. “Dude,” Cole said. He ordered two bourbons.
“Yes, dude?” I asked. “Actually—aren’t we too old for that now? We used to say that at Wharton. It makes me sad to hear it come out of my mouth now. It’s like I’m an old-timer.”
“An old-timer who’s ready to settle down?” Cole asked.
“Do you have to go there tonight, Coley?”
“Fuck you,” he said good-naturedly and had some of his drink. “You know you’ve got an emotional boner for that girl on your forehead though, right?”
“An emotional boner? I didn’t know they existed.”
“It’s like a heart on your sleeve, but bigger and more obnoxious,” he said, laughing at me. “And you totally have one.”
“She offered me a crab cake today, and I didn’t eat it.”
“You’ve fucked her, though. I can tell. Like, fifty times this week I bet.”
I shrugged. “Not fifty.”
“Then Jenny and I are winning.”
“Haven’t you been to work?” I asked him, simultaneously disgusted and impressed. He was probably exaggerating. Probably.
Cole shrugged. “Nah. I did a conference call. But this girl is like a drug for me. I can’t keep my dick out of her.”
“Does that qualify as an emotional boner? Or are you two just sort of disgusting?”
“I don’t know,” he said and rubbed his eyes. For once, my friend actually looked perplexed. “I seriously can’t keep my hands off her.” He looked back at me. “Is that love?”
“It sounds sort of like it… but it could just be lust,” I said.
“There’s definitely lust.”
“Do you like her?”
“I’m fucking crazy about her,” Cole said. He had that baffled look again, and I patted him on the shoulder. I watched as Audrey and Jenny came back toward us, both of them laughing. Audrey looked happy and almost relaxed.
“Dude,” he said. “Put your emotional boner away. It’s embarrassing.”
