Rescued By the Billionaire by Lisa Kaatz

12

“Idon’t know man, I just forgot.”

“How the fuck could you forget?”

“How the fuck could you still not have told her the truth?”

Harrison made a good point. I didn’t want to think about that right now, though. Right now, I was fucking pissed. At myself. But raging at Harrison felt a hell of a lot better than being mad at myself.

“All you had to do was keep it secret for a few more days,” I said. “I was going to tell her.”

“Dude. You slept with her last night, didn’t you?” he asked.

“That’s none of your business,” I said.

“She was coming out of your building at seven in the morning wearing one of your shirts, Lincoln,”  he said. “I’m not stupid. How the hell can you look down on my sex life when you’ve been lying to the only girl you’ve given a shit about in three years?”

“Because you’re a man whore,” I said.

“Right,” he said. “An honest man whore, though.”

He was making a joke. Harrison was making a fucking joke.

“I have to go,” I said. “Did she say where she was going?”

“Oh you mean after she told me to go fuck myself for being in on the lies with you?” Harrison asked. “Yeah, right after that, she told me she was going to take the train to  53rd and 6th to do a little shopping.”

“Wait, really?”

“No, dumbass, she didn’t tell me where she was going,” he shouted into the phone so loudly that I had to hold my phone away from my ear. “You fucking lied to her. She looked crushed, man. What are you playing at, messing with a girl like her for? She’s not like the other ones, Lincoln. You can’t throw money at this and expect it to go away..”

She’s not like the other ones.Yeah. I knew that. Especially after last night.

“You’re the one who kept telling me to find someone,” I said, jogging to the elevator.

“Yeah, tofuck,” Harrison said. “To get it out of your system. If I’d known you were going to meet Miss Small Town Wondergirl and play mind games with her for weeks I would have told you to rub one out.”

“It’s not mind games,” I snapped. The elevator doors opened and I flew past Gus, not bothering to answering his greeting and I ran down the steps to the garage and got into my car, turning the ignition and throwing it into reverse.

“To you, it’s self preservation,” Harrison said. “You thought you’d keep women away from you from now on after what happened with that Lydia bitch. To hold them at arm’s length and not get attached.”

Rule number one.

“But then you met the one woman in the whole entire fucking city who didn’t have a fucking clue who you were,” Harrison continued, his voice rising on every expletive.  “And then you fucked with her head.”

“I didn’t fuck with her head,” I said.

“Yes,” Harrison said. “You did.”

“I didn’t want to get fucked over.”

“So you thought you’d do it to her, for once?” Harrison asked. “Hurt her, instead of be the one to get hurt? How’s that working out for you, Lincoln?”

I retorted with a mix of swear words and threats, and hung up the phone, throwing it in the passenger’s seat beside me. I wanted to scream. To pound on my steering wheel. To fly down the road at a hundred miles per hour.

Instead I was in gridlocked traffic.

I was stopped a block from her apartment with no sign of movement. I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled the car up onto the sidewalk and cut the engine, ignoring the shouts around me and walking - no, running - to Abby’s building.

I had to see her.

I had to make this right.

Up the stairs, two right turns down the hallway. I knew it by heart although I’d only been there once before.

Then I heard the crying.

“Get off of me! Stop! HELP!”

I didn’t think. My blood turned to ice and I took a step back, then lunged toward the door, slamming my shoulder into it as hard as I could.

There were two bodies struggling on the floor. Abby’s, and some old man I’d never seen before. Abby was on the bottom. Her face was bleeding. She was crying and begging for him to get off of her.

I saw red.

I don’t know how long I’d been hitting him when the cops showed up. When they pulled me off of him, he was unrecognizable, his nose smashed in and a gash above his brow which was oozing blood all over his face and onto his shirt. Blood stained teeth littered the floor beneath us.

Good.

They took me into custody too despite Abby’s protests. Routine procedure, I was told.

It had been a long time since I’d been in the back of a police car. They hadn’t changed much. The drive to the NYPD station was long. We were stuck in the same gridlocked traffic that had kept me from reaching Abby’s apartment.

If I hadn’t gotten out of my car when I did...if I hadn’t run to her apartment instead of walked…

I didn’t want to think about it. This world wasn’t safe enough to have Abby in it. Not without me by her side. Not without someone there to protect her.

She didn’t think she needed protecting. Didn’t want to be saved.

And that’s when it hit me. From the day I first met her, I wanted to rescue Abby. Wanted to save her, despite all of my rules, despite the past. I wanted to - no, I needed to rescue her. And it was because she didn’t want to be rescued.

She didn’t want to need me. Didn’t want my help.

Which was precisely why I had to help her. I didn’t have a choice. Didn’t have to think about it. It was as natural as breathing.

I wanted to protect her. I knew this world inside and out. Could show her things, teach her things. Introduce her to people. Change her entire life.

I had to rescue Abby. Because she didn’t need me to rescue her. Because I loved her.

I loved her.

“How do you know the girl?” the officer asked from the front.

My lawyer would say that I wasn’t supposed to answer questions until he talked to me. I knew this.

“She’s my girlfriend,” I said without thinking about it.

“Who’s the guy?” he asked.

“Her landlord,” I said. “He’s a creep.”

“He has a record,” he said. “Another state. Not sure how long we’ll be able to lock him for up since we’re a different jurisdiction. Between you and me, you might want to get your girlfriend out of there when you get out.”

“Believe me,” I said. “I’ve been trying to convince her to get out of there for weeks.”

Since we met, actually.

The officer grunted in approval.

“Is she going to be okay? Medical care?” I asked.

“The EMTs arrived on the scene after we left,” he said, making a turn. “They’ll take care of her.”

We went through the booking process that I was all too familiar with - though as of today, I could now say that I’d been arrested in every borough.

“I was wonderingwhen I’d get your call.”

I had an entire team of lawyers. One for each facet of my life. But when shit really hit the fan, I called Jonathan directly.

“Is it on the news already?” I groaned.

“Channel five, six, and nine,” he answered. “They’re having a field day with this. I hope your next call is to your publicist. You’re going to need to get this under control.”

“My next call is going to be to a real estate agent,” I said. “To buy that entire building and fire that scumbag landlord. I want to ruin his fucking life.”

“Well, if the state of his face coming out of that building is any indication,” he said. “You’re well on your way. That guy’s going to need twelve surgeries just to look human again. His poor mother wouldn’t even recognize him.”

“Good,” I said, clenching my fist.

“He’ll sue you, you know,” Jonathan said.

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” I snapped. “It’s fine. Open and shut case. He was assaulting my girlfriend. I could hear her screaming for help through the door.”

“Any neighbors around to witness?”

“I don’t know, I was too busy pummeling the guy,” I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t exactly have time to stop and chat.”

“I’ll start drawing up the paperwork,” he said. “It’s better if we get on the offense with this one. Get things kicked off ourselves, it’ll put them in a defensive position. Not to mention scare the shit out of them. Anyway, I’m in the cab on the way there with bail. Sit tight and don’t say anything stupid.”

“Right,” I said.

“And Lincoln?” he said.

“What?”

“Congratulations on the girlfriend,” he said. “About time you got back on the horse.”

“Thanks.”

I hung up the phone and was escorted back to my cell, where I waited alone until Jonathan came in with an officer.

“It’s like the Golden Globes out there,” he said cheerily as the cop unlocked the cell. “All of the paps are here to see you.”

“Great,” I said.

“And because I’m just that good, after we were done talking, I made a few calls and found out where your girl is,” he said. “Saint Mary’s Hospital off of 54th.”

“You’re the best,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

“My premium hourly rate thanks you,” he said with a bow. “Remember: Don’t talk to the press. Don’t talk to anyone but me.”

“Right,” I said as we arrived at the front door to the station. I could hear the din of paparazzi already from the inside.

“Good luck,” Jonathan said, patting me on the shoulder. “I’m going to stick around and see if I can feel out what the police are thinking. Whether this will be filed with the AG or what’s what. Been a while since I’ve had a client with a criminal law case. Never been a dull moment with you, Lincoln.”

“Never,” I agreed.

He pulled a baseball cap and some sunglasses from his coat and handed them to me. Always thinking ahead. It was why he was the best.

“Go see your girl,” he said with a smile.

Saint Mary’s Hospital was surrounded,too. How did they seem to know where I’d be? It was like someone had tipped them off or something. I pulled the baseball cap low on my head and dove through the crowd, thankful that there were hospital security at the front doors, blocking them from following me in.

Inside, I walked to the information desk and found the wing she was in. I walked down sterile halls to elevators, took the elevator to the next floor, walked another long, fluorescent hallway to her room.

The door was ajar and she was sitting on the bed, a nurse talking quietly to her. She caught my eye over the nurse’s shoulder. I waved, giving her a small, unsure smile.

She just looked at me.

She hates you.

The nurse looked back and saw what Abby was looking at. Turned back to her and said something else. Abby nodded, and the nurse left.

“She said you can come in,” the nurse said on her way out. “But know that she needs to get some rest, as well.”

“I’ll be quick,” I promised.

I walked in, closing the door behind me. They’d given her a large room, with an empty bed next to hers.

I sat on it facing her.

She said nothing. I looked at her face. Her forehead had a bandage on it and her right cheekbone had a bruise that was already turning purple and swelling. And her arm was in a cast.

I wanted to kill the landlord. Again. I made a mental note to call my lawyers and real estate agent tomorrow. The thought was calming. I’d ruin him. I’d get to work on that as soon as I got back home. It didn’t matter whether Abby forgave me or not. If she never spoke to me again. I would ruin him.

She inhaled, looking up at me, getting ready to say something. Then she stopped short. Closed her mouth. Looked away.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Fine,” she said. “Well. Not fine. My arm is broken in three places. My drawing arm. And my head hurts like hell. We did an MRI already, and things look normal. Just have to wait a few days for the swelling to go down. Take a lot of ibuprofen. Like a really bad headache.”

“I’m glad it’s not worse,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said, looking up at me with those honey colored eyes. “Me too.”

“I love you, Abby,” I blurted out. She stared, her mouth a thin line. I wished she would say something.

“I do,” I said. I stood and walked over to her bed, sitting beside her. “I love you.”

“You lied to me,” she said. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“I know,” I said. “I know I lied. But Abby I’ve told you things I’ve never talked to anyone - any woman - about. I’ve done things with you. Opened up to you..”

“I did things with you I’d never done,” she said. “Not with you, not with any other man. I gave myself to you. And the whole time, you knew that you were lying to me. You knew. How could you?”

“I wanted to tell you,” I said. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I didn’t know how much...how much I’d care about you. How much I would need you. And then when I realized, I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“Ruin it how?” she asked.

I looked away.

“I’m not proud of it,” I said, trying to find the words. “And I know you’re not that type of woman. But...I’ve been used before, Abby. I don’t have a lot of friends. I’ve only dated a few women since my business took off, and the ones that I have dated turned out to be using me.”

“Did I ever do something to make you think I was using you?” she asked.

“No - ”

“If I wanted to use you, I would have,” she said. “I saw your car. Your clothes. Your apartment. I’ll admit, I didn’t know you were the CEO of a company or some kind of mega-billionaire genius, but I knew you had money. Don’t you think if I was going to use you, I would have done it already?”

“I know it doesn’t make much sense,” I said. “It was wrong. And it’s not who you are. I should have realized that the moment I met you. I met you, and you said that thing about my name and the two presidents. And then I realized you had no idea who I was. Abby, you don’t know how rare that is. You don’t know how different you are.”

“Different as in stupid,” she said. “Different as in naive. Different as in some stupid small town hick from the middle of nowhere who doesn’t have a clue who you are or what you do.”

“What?” I wrinkled my nose. Where was she even getting this from? Small town hick?

“You saw some naive girl from out of town and you thought you could take advantage of her ignorance,” she said. “Because what, you’ve met a few too many bad women in your life? You know, Lincoln, if that woman you were with at the restaurant is any indication of your tastes, maybe the problem isn’t your money. Maybe the problem is your shitty taste in women.”

I was speechless. But it didn’t matter. Abby wasn’t done.

“You’re damn right when you say how different I am,” she said with narrowed eyes. “And I know it. I’m not stupid. I know I dress weird. I know that my hair is always a mess. I even know that I’ve got a nice body - yeah, I know that. I know who I am, Lincoln. I think maybe the problem is that you don’t know me as well as you thought you knew me. You were too busy looking at me through your own warped lens, judging me against the women you’ve already met in your life.”

“I do know you,” I said.

“Yeah?” she asked. “Where am I from, Lincoln? Where did I go to school? Am I a dog person or a cat person? Am I allergic to anything?”

I was silent. I didn’t have the answers to any of those questions. But did that mean I didn’t know Abby? Those things were topical. Almost trivial. Because I knew Abby. I knew her deepest fears and desires, her needs and her wants. If that wasn’t knowing a person, then what was?

“You think you know me,” she continued. “You think you love me. After only four weeks of knowing me, you think you love me. And you came here to tell me that because deep down, part of you felt certain that I’d take you back after what you did for me back there at the apartment. And I am grateful. I am. I owe you so much. But that doesn’t mean I’m about to run back into the arms of the liar, even if you were my first.”

She spat the last half of that sentence out like it was something vile on her tongue.

“You’re done with me, then,” I said. “Just like that? After everything we had together?”

“Everything we had together was a lie, Lincoln!” she snapped. “You can blame yourself for that one. While you were protecting yourself and your money, you hurt me. And now I have to protect myself. Surely you can understand that.”

I could.

But I loved her. And we were supposed to be together. I knew it.

“I want you to leave,” she said, turning away from me. “I need to sleep.”

“Abby,” I whispered. “Please.”

I reached for her hand and she recoiled as though it had burned her.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said. “Now please, just go.”

I looked into her eyes. Even when she was glaring at me, her eyes had a hidden warmth to them. I wanted to dive into her, to hold her close to me, examine her face and take her home to safety. Where would she go after this? Home? She didn’t have a home, she didn’t even have a door now that I’d bashed it in.

“Lincoln,” she said, announcing my name carefully. “I need you to go. Now.”

“I love you Abby,” I said, getting up to leave. “That doesn’t just stop. This isn’t over for me. I’m not done.”

“Well I am,” she said, looking away. “Now please just go. Or I’ll call the nurse.”

I took one last look at her. She was turned away, her wounded cheek hidden. Her hair was draped over her shoulder and the sunlight was coming in at that angle, the one that made her look angelic and on fire at the same time, lighting her hair up from behind.

Staying would only make things worse. She wasn’t going to change her mind. I’d seen that look in her eyes before. When she’d been fired from the coffeeshop and again when she quit the restaurant. That look said it all. It said goodbye.