Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
James
We marched into the restaurant, and Audrey’s face was pale and concerned, just the way I wanted it to be. There was another long table with a white tablecloth; chandeliers and candles shimmered throughout the room. I was getting tired of these fancy dinners. I was certainly tired of my fancy parents, with their misplaced faith in their abiding superiority.
Danielle had been better, a better person than my mother, not the other way around. My mother needed to understand that. I wasn’t sure she was capable, but I was going to try my damnedest.
I just had to make sure that Audrey and I were credible right now. We needed to be pitch perfect. My mother didn’t miss much, and there was no room for error. The vacation was ending, and we were going back to the real world. Audrey was going to be a part of my world. I just had to make sure I got her there unscathed.
Mostly unscathed.
“Let’s sit here,” I said to Audrey, pulling out a chair across from my parents. Audrey nodded at me silently and didn’t look at them: it was as though she couldn’t bear to.
My father nodded to us over his bourbon, and I saw his eyes slip down to Audrey’s chest. “Father,” I said to him coolly, “eyes on me.”
He gave me a dirty look and sipped his bourbon. “I was young once, you know.”
“Really?” I asked, taking a seat next to Audrey. “I don’t remember. It seems like you’ve been an old man forever.”
He snorted at me. “You’re in rare form tonight,” he said, peering at me over his glasses.
“So are you. You’ve said more than four words.” Per his usual, he grunted at me and turned back to the menu. Compared to my mother, my father was like a cardboard cutout of a person. He’d been forever in the background, a voice on the other end of a line from his office. I would always think of him as dressed in neutral tones, nursing a bourbon, scowling at the world from behind his Armani glasses. I’d often thought my mother had chosen him largely because he did what she said.
I wonder if he’d fought her about Danielle, or if he’d just fallen in line. Maybe she never told him, but he had to have guessed. My mother was a difficult woman. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d never said a word and just gone back to his office on the Monday morning after the accident, as though nothing had happened.
As though his wife had never killed a girl.
Celia swept in after that, in a blush-pink gown that ruffled at the neck, probably to mask the few existing lines she had left there. If she was surprised that we’d chosen to sit across from them, her face gave nothing away. Not that I expected it to. She was either so morally bankrupt that she was completely without remorse or her filler had settled in just enough that her face wouldn’t really move for another few weeks. Either way, her smooth expression was just as I expected.
“Hello, James,” she said. “Audrey.”
Audrey nodded at her and looked away, and I settled in for what was going to be an excruciatingly long multiple-course dinner.
“Have another drink,” I said to Audrey in a low voice, just before dessert was served. “You’re about to need it.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, motioning to the waiter. My parents had been civil during dinner, but little else. My mother had asked me to no avail about several business ventures. After finally giving up, she’d turned to my father to discuss their various upcoming social obligations.
After Audrey got her drink and we finished dessert, I stood abruptly. “Mother, we need to speak with you,” I said. “Follow me.” Both Audrey and my mother obediently followed me out to the almost empty lobby, where we grabbed a table near the fireplace.
“What’s this about?” Celia asked. She gave Audrey a quick look.
“James can speak for himself,” Audrey mumbled, still not looking at my mother. She’d barely said a word all through dinner, and now she looked tense and small against the enormous chair she was seated in.
I knocked back the rest of my bourbon and sat forward in my seat. “I wanted you to know something, Mother. Audrey told me last night about the conversation she’d had with you—about her brother and the fact that you called her mom. I want you to know that I’ll be handling those issues going forward.”
What looked like lasers shot out of Celia’s eyes at Audrey. “I thought I told you to keep that between us, dear. I’d love to say I’m surprised, but…” She turned back to me. “I want you to know I was trying to protect you. From this girl and her lies. What else do you have to say, James?”
I gripped my glass so hard I was surprised it didn’t shatter in my hand. “Audrey also told me about her… suspicions. About the death of Danielle, my high school girlfriend.”
My mother watched my face. As always, hers gave nothing away. “Audrey told me the same thing. She said she believed I was involved somehow.”
“That’s what she’s claiming.” I saw Audrey look at me briefly, confused. My head was pounding. “You know I have some serious issues with you, Mother. But I don’t believe you’re capable of something that horrific. And I don’t believe it. So I want you to know, Audrey and I are heading home tonight. And this will be the last time we see each other. I will take care of her and her family. I’ll make sure that nothing about our relationship or her accusations about Danielle’s death ever come out.”
I took a deep breath. “Because although I believed she had feelings for me, I know now the truth: that she’s a grifting, blackmailing whore. Just like her mother.”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, dear,” my mother said, looking triumphant. “I’ve tried to tell you that a thousand times.”
Audrey didn’t saya word to me on the way back to the room. I didn’t say anything, either. We could be followed or overheard, and I wasn’t going to risk it.
Her face was still pale when we went back inside, her mouth set in a grim line. “I’m calling the valet to come and get us,” I said. “Pack your things. Pack mine, too, if you can stand to.”
She looked up at me, and I could see the wounded look on her face.
“Audrey,” I started. “Let’s wait to talk it through—let’s get out of here while that performance is still fresh in my mother’s mind. But you know.”
“Know what?” she asked, slamming though the house and grabbing our stuff.
“That I love you. And that I’m sorry about the ugly things I just said.” I went and wrapped my arms around her, pressing the full length of my body against hers. She wriggled against me, as if she were trying to get away. I leaned down and looked at her. “My mother isn’t easily fooled, Audrey. I had to make that seem real. She has to believe that we’re through and that you aren’t a threat to her. So even though I hurt you, I did it to keep you safe. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”
She looked up at me. “Tell me you didn’t mean it. Not a word.”
“I didn’t mean a word of it.” I smoothed the hair back from her forehead and kissed her gently. “You know I didn’t.”
“It still hurt. It made me feel sick to hear it,” she said.
“It made me feel sick to say it.”
I released her, and she took a step back from me.
“I had to do that, Audrey. I had to take control of the situation. My mother’s been running things for too long. We’re going to have both my mother and yours on a short leash after this. And we’re the walkers, babe. They’re the dogs.”
“I hope they don’t turn around and bite us,” Audrey said. “Those are some big fangs.”
I didn’t holdher hand until the plane had taken off. I didn’t want anyone to see us. Audrey was quiet, pretending to listen carefully while the flight attendant went through the safety presentation, inspecting her nails afterward and generally ignoring me.
“Can you please forgive me?” I asked. “I didn’t think we’d get out of there, intact, any other way.”
“I can forgive you. I already did,” she said under her breath. “But if you ever compare me to my mother again, you can say goodbye to this.” She motioned to her lower body.
“No,” I said. “I am not ever saying goodbye to that.”
She smiled at me a little, and I could tell it was reluctant. “You were just so mean,” she said.
“I know. It was ugly.”
“Do you think she believed it?” Audrey asked.
“I think so. I think my mother believes that the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. She thinks that underneath it all, I’m just like her. Ruthless. Only interested in myself. And she’s right,” I said, throwing my arm around her. “Except that she hadn’t counted on you. Now I’m ruthless, and I’m only interested in you. And I don’t think my mother believes I’m capable of that.”
“Of having a relationship?” Audrey asked.
“Of loving someone more than I love myself,” I said. “Even though she’s a parent, I don’t think she knows what that means.”
“Your mother and my mother deserve each other,” Audrey said. “They should be prison roommates.”
“I might work on arranging that,” I said.
I’d never been so relievedto be back in Boston. Audrey must have felt it, too; she relaxed next to me as soon as we landed. Kai was waiting for us at Logan. He smiled at me and, as per my previous instructions, averted his eyes from Audrey.
“Kai, it’s good to see you,” I said as we slid into the back of the SUV.
“You too, sir, ma’am. Did you enjoy your trip?”
“We did. We mixed business and pleasure. It was productive,” I said. “Did you miss us?”
“Of course,” Kai said. “You two are my favorite clients. Especially you, Mr. Preston. No offense, Miss Reynolds—but you know how he is about you.” He cracked a smile, and Audrey had a laugh at my expense.
“Ha ha. That’s nice, Kai,” I said, leaning back and pulling Audrey to me. “I’m not a favorite with a lot of people right now. It’s nice to know I’m still capable of being liked. But you can let Audrey be your favorite—you can even smile at her from now on. Everyone likes her better than me, anyway. For good reason.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“You’re not a total prick,” I said and grinned at her.
