My Billionaire, page 12
How can one man make me question it all, and I’ve only fucked him twice.
I think deep down I already knew the answer, but I was scared to even think about that possibility.
The possibility… that maybe I cared about Blake way more than just as a live-in fuck buddy.
That maybe, just maybe—
I was falling head over heals for Blake.
30
Blake
There was no denying that it was weird, to wander through the park by myself and I didn’t know if there was something that I wanted to do differently. I made my way to a coffee shop at the edge of the park and ordered a hot chocolate. I drank it as I made my way back through the park. I stopped at a pond and sat on the bench overlooking it, watching the ducks for awhile. After a little bit I decided that I needed to do something more interesting, so I took another walk around the park. I knew that I needed to think about it differently, because my job was different than before. Still, I wasn’t sure what exactly I was supposed to do. After all, It wasn’t like I didn’t like my new job. I think it was more that it was just odd to think of it as just that; a job.
The fact that I was now in a gay relationship, the fact that as a part of my contract I had to only have sex with Max unless he so otherwise told me, was truly a game changer. The fact that I had realized I was probably 100% was also a game changer, but that was another matter entirely. Considering how hard Max had fucked me up the ass the night before, I felt surprisingly good about it. It was not like any of those terrible clichés, where I was going to walk around funny or anything else ridiculous. No, it was quite the contrary. While it was odd to have so much free-time during the day, I was honestly already, even in the late morning, thinking about fucking the billionaire again, and how much I wanted to. How much I craved it.
I shuddered, even though the air wasn’t particularly cold, thinking about it. I was a billionaire’s play thing, and not only did I like it as a job, but I loved being used the way that Max used me. If anything, how he treated me just made me want him more. There was probably something wrong with me, but in that moment I honestly didn’t care. I really did feel like, on some level, that I had won the lottery.
Still, it was one thing to win the lottery. It was another thing to keep living once you have won. It feels different. Even though, in theory, my whole life was worked out, I certainly didn’t feel that way. If anything I felt even more disoriented than I had before. Just because I had discovered I was gay, just because I had an amazing job basically being a hooker for the sexiest man, no, the sexiest person I had ever met, didn’t mean that everything was perfect. For one thing, even though my salary had increased by an insane amount, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do once my job was over. I mean, in theory if it all worked out Max could just say I was his assistant and that was that, but what if it ended badly? Not to mention, there was the whole “people tried to hurt me to get to him” thing. While I knew that Max would be on it, and be on making sure I was safe, having my complete trust in him, my complete faith in him on one level did feel… foolish. Or if not foolish, at least, not exactly smart. Plus, there was no way of knowing just how long the billionaire would keep me on. Sure, our contract was for sixth months, but if he decided that me being his pleasure assistant put one of his businesses on the line, I could see him dropping me in days, not months.
And if I was being completely honest, that was going to hurt, far more than just getting a single large pay check from him and not seeing him anymore. That was really the hard part, the thought of not seeing him anymore. It stung on a deep, fundamental level. I didn’t even want to think about it.
I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear the yelling, not at first. Well, okay, I mean, I heard the yelling, but didn’t realize it was directed at me. Not until I heard my name “Blake!” I turned, and a sight that truly baffled my eyes. There were two men, both of them charging towards me. Behind them, there were more men, and I vaguely recognized one of them. I realized that the men coming towards me were more goons, and the men behind them were some of Max’s security.
I didn’t think twice and turned and started running. That’s when I heard gunshots, and dove for the ground. I hit the patch of grass I was on and covered my head. There were more gunshots. My heart was racing. I heard more yelling, and then I felt rough hands grab me by the shoulders and hoist me up.
“Stay low!” the owner the rough hands snapped, and then I was dragged along, the man using his body to shield me as we ran out of the park.
I didn’t know if the man was one of Max’s security, or if he was working for them, but all I knew was that the abstract threat, the one that had involved the henchmen Fall and Summer, had come crashing back as cold hard reality. It wasn’t just some vague threat; my life was actually in danger. I needed to forget about worrying about what would happen when Max grew bored of me; there was a chance that I wouldn’t live through the afternoon.
31
Max
I had a conference call with Tokyo five minutes after I finished up with Ron, but I was once again unfocused. That was not to say that I was bad on the phone call, but rather, it was still just a bit of a mess, and when I was through I looked at Sonya, who had been sitting in on the call with me. She didn’t change her expression, but I knew that she was thinking what I was thinking I screwed up.
“How badly did that go?” I asked, standing up.
“Sir, I don’t think it went badly at all…”
I cut her off with a single tilt of my head, and for once, her eyes did not meet mine.
“I’m just saying, on a scale of one to ten being they don’t go through with the deal,” I said, moving out from behind my ridiculously oversized desk.
Sonya hesitated for a second before finally looking at me. “It really wasn’t that bad sir. I think you’re just… I think you’re just a bit distracted.”
“I’m very aware that I’m distracted Sonya, what’s the number?”
She sighed and looked away for a moment, before she once again met my eyes. “I’d say probably a five.”
I nodded. That was about what I thought too. It could have been worse, but I was doing the business no favors having me on the call. And that, that was a problem. I had plenty of mid-level and even other higher level executives who could have dealt with that phone call. The reason I was making it was because of my personal… abilities. I had always been able to get the best deals. That was why, other than my family name, I had risen to the top so quickly. Sure, it had always been my families company, but it nearly quadrupled in size under my leadership over the last ten years. Heartland Enterprises had been impressive in size before I had taken over, but now… now it was something else entirely. My goal had always been to make my grandfather proud, and I think, for once, I had done just that. If he was still alive today, I would like to think that he would have been truly shocked at the scale and scope I had built his company too. Except now it wasn’t his company, but my company. Everything he had envisioned, everything he had dreamed and hoped for, I had manifested. Past the point where he had probably thought was even possible. I had made my families legacy, my families dreams into actual manifest destiny.
And now you’re putting it on the line for one man. For one man that you’ve known for a very short period of time, that you enjoy fucking a lot. The voice in my head I knew was right, but I didn’t push it away. I couldn’t argue with it, but it also wasn’t taking everything into account. You can’t forget, it’s more than just fucking. You wouldn’t have been nervous about sending in Ron if it was just about the sex.
For once, the other voice in my head didn’t argue back. Because all of me knew that I was correct. There was no sense in denying it anymore. But that didn’t mean it was a bad thing. But it does mean you need to get your shit together. Either you want him or you don’t, but until you deal with this threat to your take over, you’re putting the two things that matter the most to you at risk, both of them being bait. Your heart and your business. I was right again. I did need to deal with it, and I needed to deal with it today. There was no more waiting. There simply couldn’t be. They say the best defense is a good offense, and if I didn’t have my people deal with the threat immediately, I wasn’t sure just how far I was going to fall.
“Sonya, cancel the meetings for the rest of the day.”
She looked surprised that I had spoken up. I was no longer facing her, but rather looking out my window out at the city before us. My city. When I did speak I looked back to face her. She stood up, straightening her business slacks.
“Sir, are you sure?”
I didn’t respond, I simply gave her a look. She cleared her throat and nodded. “Of course. You headed back to the penthouse?”
“Yes, and I want my extra security detail to come with me. Leave a skeleton crew here.”
That caught her off guard. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s time to face this problem head on. I deal with this problem, and I can assure you my next ‘conference call” won’t be anything but perfect. People want Maxwell Declan at his finest. I think it’s high time I give them that again.”
Her face brightened, but she did not say anything. She was already on her phone, doing my bidding. I made a mental note to give her an even larger bonus at the end of the year than I had originally planned. Whatever I was paying her, (and it was considerable) it was still too little, and I knew it.
“And when you are done with your schedule for the day, take the rest of the day off.”
That surprised Sonya. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you work almost as hard as I do, and everyone deserves a break. Oh, and Sonya?”
She was turning away from me, but me saying her name turned her back around. “Yes boss?”
“Make sure you take your bodyguard with you tonight. The risk level for you is low, but still, with everything that’s happened.”
Her eyes widened. She had clearly not expected me to say anything of the sort to her. “You really think they would target me? But why?”
“Because if they’re smart, and they don’t seem to be stupid, they’ll target people that are close to me. The people that I care about most.”
Her cheeks went bright red, and she once again didn’t meet my eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind sure, and make sure that Lance is with me when I head home. Anything else?”
I shook my head. “Not at the moment Sonya. Thank you.”
She left my office, clearly flustered and surprised by everything I had said. It was time to stop taking the people in my life for granted. I had cared a great deal for Hank, but I think I had spent too much time living in the past, and loving his memory rather than just living. Sure, my business had skyrocketed since his passing, but my personal life had not. Blake had awoken something that I had long ago thought had died, but really, it had just been in hibernation. It was time to make up for lost time, and it was time to not take those that I cared the most about for granted. That meant acknowledging them, starting with my amazing and faithful assistants. And it ended —
Well, it ended with telling Blake how I really felt.
32
Blake
I was led down one alleyway, and then another. I didn’t recognize the man dragging me, but he had blood trickling down the side of his face. I wanted to say something about him being hurt, but words escaped me. In the distance, more gunshots echoed like church bells, and the angry serenade of police sirens filled the air. I was disoriented, and even though I knew the city well, I was completely at a loss for where I was. My head spun, and I didn’t know what to do. Finally, after another block the man pulled me down another side alley. He stopped behind a dumpster with me, and caught his breath. While he caught his, I caught mine as well, and finally mustered the courage to say something.
“What the hell is going on?” I managed to gasp out. He looked at me, but he didn’t meet my eyes. That’s when I noticed a shoulder holster and a pistol underneath his grey suit coat.
“Shit,” I stammered, right as he pulled the pistol out.
“It’s nothing personal,” he said, and leveled the gun at me. There was a soft ‘click’ as he cocked the weapon’s hammer.
“Wait! Aren’t you supposed to keep me alive?! You know, as leverage.”
“We’re supposed to use you to send a message, and honestly, at this point to get out of here I think it will be easier to just take you out and say you tried to get away. My employer would understand that,” he said, and it was almost like he didn’t believe what he was saying. I realized he was just trying to psyche himself up, and that maybe, the idea of killing me wasn’t something he really wanted to do, but felt like there was no choice.
“Please, just take me. I won’t resist. Just don’t kill me for God’s sake!” I said, tears filling my eyes.
For a split second, it was like he was considering my offer, but then he shook his head. “Sorry man, it’s cleaner this way.”
I closed my eyes —
BANG!
The single gunshot filled the air and I flinched, holding my chest where I assumed he shot me.
Only, it took a second to realize I didn’t feel like I had been shot. I opened my eyes, caustically, and found myself staring at the man as he slowly crumpled forward onto the ground, his own hand clutching at his chest. For a moment I was frozen in place, until I noticed someone else was there, standing at the mouth of the alley.
Ron held a shiny silver gun, the barrel smoking as he lowered the weapon. “You hurt?”
I shook my head. “I’m not hurt, but none of this is okay.”
“Well, we can worry about that later. It’s not safe here, come on,” he said, waving at me.
I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him no, and put my foot down. I didn’t though, and instead followed after the billionaire’s head of security. I realized in that moment I could be angry later. For now, for now it was more important to just survive to get in a fight later.
When I arrived at the penthouse, I was tired, and there was a soft headache that was forming in my left temple. Nobody was there, but Ron led me to my bedroom. “Take a shower,” he said.
I did, and afterwards popped a couple of Tylenol. I changed into a new pair of joggers and a different long sleeved t shirt, since my other one had a few spots of blood from the man that had tried to kill me.
The shirt and the pants I had been wearing were no longer in the room. I drank a glass of water from the tumbler that was on the nightstand that was beside the bed, and took a deep breath. My headache wasn’t getting worst at least.
After I took another minute to compose myself I went out into the hallway again. To my surprise, there was a dozen people in the living room. Seven of them I didn’t recognize, and realized they were more security. Ron was there, as well as Sonya.
So was Max. He was standing in the middle of the living room, having a very tense discussion with Ron. When I entered the room, Sonya cleared her throat. Everyone fell silent.
Max looked at me for a long moment, and even though there were so many others in the room, it was like it was just the two of us in that moment, alone together.
“Max,” I said, my voice far softer than I expected.
“Blake. How are you feeling.”
“I mean… I’ve been better,” I said.
Max snapped his fingers, and everyone cleared out of the room, except Ron and Sonya.
“Tell him what you just told me,” Max said to Ron.
Ron nodded curtly, and took two steps towards me. “Blake, I just thought you should know that the threat on your life, the threat on all of your lives has been eliminated.”
“Yeah, because you killed him.”
Ron shook his head. “No. I mean yes, I did save your life, but that’s not who I’m talking about. I’m referring to the man who hired him, and the others that threatened you yesterday at the diner.”
“Oh. Is he dealt with too?” I didn’t know why I was being so snide with Ron, but I think it had something to do with the fact that a man who had been planning on killing me had been shot before my very eyes.
If it bothered Ron, he gave no sign of it.
“Uh, no. He’s on the run, but we haven’t located him yet.”
“Who is he?”
Ron exchanged a look with Max, and the billionaire jumped in. “He’s the son of the original co-founder of a company I just took over. The board agreed to the merger, but he had just been promoted to the CEO a year ago and was anger that we were taking his away from him. It’s not a money thing, he was well compensated, it’s about ego. Apparently so much ego he’s willing to kill for it. I have Ron’s best team on it. He won’t be long for this world.”
“Wait, you’re just going to kill him?”
Ron and Max exchanged another look. “No. We’ll try to detain him and turn him over to the FBI. But I don’t take him as the type to go to prison. All of this really will be over soon, but for the time being, we all think it’s safer if you just stay here in the penthouse.”
“You all think that?”
Sonya chimed in. “Yes, all of us. We’ve cleared Max’s schedule for the time being, so try to think of this as an extended vacation. I mean, if it helps,” she added, smiling at me. I wondered if her neutral feelings towards me had grown towards at least not minding me. It certainly seemed like they had.
Ron’s phone chirped. He glanced at it, and left the room without saying another word. Right before he was out the door though, I called out to him. “Hey Ron?”
