Enough (32 page)

“I could say the same thing about you and
Zach.” Alex said. I looked up at him. “I found you. That’s what matters, right?”

I nodded.
“What was her name?” He turned his gaze away from me toward Gizmo. “That’s the last question, I promise.”

He hesitated. “Nina.”
He turned back to me and said, “So… are you going to tell Tiffany and Sophie you found the guy from the show?”

“I don’t know.” I said.

Sophie and Tiffany. Wow. It use to be just Tiffany and Christy. Everything was talked about with them. Now, Sophie is back in my life.

Alex
slid his hand to the small of my back. The shirt is not helping. I can feel the warmth radiating from his touch.

“Why not?”
He asked.

“They don’t know that you’re rich. If they find out you were the boy from the fashion show they might put it together.”
I said.

“Em…I don’t care if they know
I’m rich. A lot of people know that already.” He said. Clearly. He’s a hot shot with multiple businesses.

“Maybe you don’t but I do.”
I said. He furrowed his brow at me. “Alex, you gave me a car. I didn’t tell anyone because they might think I’m with you for your money and it’s not like that for me.” It’s really not. I fucking love this guy for
him
.

“They’re
your friends. I don’t think they’d think that.” They probably won’t. I shrugged my shoulder.               “Emily, I have a lot of businesses in New York and around the world.” Alex said. “They’ll probably see me on TV or in the paper soon.” I backed up to get a better look at him. Hold up…

“How rich are you?”
I asked staring at him. Do I really want to know? “No, no…I don’t want to know. All I want to know is…am I in danger of being kidnapped or anything dangerous because of how rich you are?”

“Why would
you think about that?” He asked.

“I see
a lot of TV.”

“Everyone my family did business with over the years never had that problem so being a billionaire’s only son, I don’t know if we would run into that problem.”
Alex said.

“I told you I didn’t want to know.” I
said moving away from him to lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. “And I got you kidnapped…it can be a possibility.” He just happened to mention he’s a billionaire. What the fuck? I didn’t want to know that.

“I didn’t say how much I have.”
Alex said when he saw my face. He moved closer to me and kissed my arm. “Are you mad at me? You have that look in your eye.” Is he teasing me?

I glanced
at him. “I’m not mad, it’s just… I love you because of you. I don’t care how much money you have. I just don’t want you spending money on me.” I sighed. Like the racetrack. How did he manage that?

“I promise I won’t spend
too much on you.” He said. I saw him smile.

“Then how did you get the track for Monday?”
I asked.

A tear slid down my cheek.
It’s sweet but still…

“Did Sean tell you?”
He asked. I shook my head.

“I eavesdropped when I opened the window.
I didn’t mean to… That’s just another thing you spent money on me for.” I said.

“I didn’t spend any money.”
He said with a serious face.

“Then
how did you–” I thought about it. Oh, great. “Is it already yours?” He wiped away the stray tear and nodded. “I’m just not use to this.” I said. “So we weren’t going to break any laws? Not fair.” Alex laughed.

“Is there any
thing I can do to make it easier for you?” He asked. I smiled. “Besides that.” Smile faded.

“You know what I want but
you just don’t want to.” I said.

He kissed me. That’
s not what I want.

“Emily, you know your family is home
, right?” Alex said.

“
I know. That’s why it’ll be that much better.” I said.

He moved his hand to my
side and shook his head.

“You’re still hurt.”

“I can handle it.” I said. I know I can.

Something in his eye
s changed. Fuck…yes…

H
e kissed me and slipped his hand under my shirt. I moved in closer to him. He scooted over a bit and leaned on me until he was on my thighs. I winced in pain and he stopped kissing me.

“I told you.”
He said. My mouth dropped for a few seconds. I can’t believe he just teased me only to prove a point. Yeah fucking right. I got off my bed, locked my bedroom door, pressed play on the iHome and turned up the volume. Gizmo looked like he was sleeping at the foot of the bed so I took off my shirt and threw it somewhere.

“I told you I can handle it.”
I said crawling into bed and straddling his lap. I can do this. We can do this. When I brought him to my lips, I felt his warmth spread all over my body. I feel like I’m melting.

He rolled me over and made sure not to h
urt me.

This i
s what I wanted.

***

Alex’s arms are wrapped around me as our naked bodies lie in bed covered only in a sheet. Gizmo’s awake and he keeps walking on us, licking skin that’s out in the open. I feel so dirty.

I leaned into Alex to kiss him when my
phone chimed. Tiffany. I hope they don’t come by today. I love them yes but I need some privacy. At least right now. I’m still trying to catch my breath after the time we just had.

Tiffany:
You might be busy, I hope you’re busy!! Do you know if Liam has a gf?? And Soph and Bryan want to know when we’re going to hang out again. Like old times.

Me:
Don’t know to both.

It’
s three o’clock so I have time later to think about this. I put my phone back down and turned to Alex. I was about to say something sexy into his ear when there was a knock on the door. My eyes widened in fear. We’re naked.

“What is it?” I asked.
Now it doesn’t seem very fun to have done this.

“Mom want
s you downstairs in five.” Scarlett said.

“
Okay.” I said.

“And bring the dog.”
She said walking away. Alex kissed me one more time then sat up all while giving me a sexy look. I found my clothes on the floor and put them on. I let my hair down and tried styling it the best I could with my fingers. Mom doesn’t need to see just fucked hair.

Alex was dressed and held
Gizmo out for me.

“Sometimes you have to listen to what a girl wants.”
I said winking.

“I guess I do.”
Alex grabbed his duffel bag and swung it on his shoulder. I turned off the iHome and we headed downstairs. “I have to head to my place and grab a few things.” He said. I opened the front door for him and he pecked my lips before saying, “I love you.” I started blushing. Damn these red cheeks.

“I love you
too.” I can’t help but smile. “You don’t have to come back if you’re busy with…work.” Is it work? All those businesses? It kind of is.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Alex said.

I closed the front door and headed into the living room where Mom was sitting on the couch, holding a little blue box. The blue box I got for my birthday.

“What’s up?” I
asked.

“I wanted to talk about Gizmo.
” She said taking out his collar and putting it on him. He looks like a stud. A puppy stud.

“Is there something wrong with him?” I
asked holding him closer to me. I just got him…

“No, nothing. Its just you’re still hurt so I don’t want you straining yourself to take care of him. We can walk him and feed him if you feel like you can’t. We want you to feel better.”
Mom said.

If she only knew what we just did upstairs.

“If you guys want to you can but Mom I’m feeling better now.” I said.

“You seem better.
Are your friends coming today?”

“No.
Why do you miss them already?” I asked. She smiled.

“
I actually do. It’s been awhile since you had people over like yesterday. Usually everything’s a secret with you… I don’t want to know if there was alcohol involved. If there was, I hope you guys were responsible but please don’t bring it back in the house.” She said giving me a look.

I nodded. “
It was a belated birthday party. It won’t happen again.”

“
I hear you have a tattoo too.” I looked up from Gizmo and found Mom staring at me. “I’m not mad. Maybe just a little. When did you get it?”

“This
summer.” I said. She nodded and rubbed my arm like any Mom would. “Its weird having everyone act nice around me.” I feel like they pity me and feel sorry. I was raped not murdered. I shouldn’t be treated differently.

“Emi
ly, you’ve been through so much…you need a break.” There was an awkward silence as we stared at each other. Gizmo is the only one whimpering and sniffing around the area, making noise.

“N
o one talks about that night.” I finally said. I looked into her caring green eyes. “I don’t know if they’re scared about what happened but I was scared, Mom. They think I was brave for what I did.”

She gently pulled me in a hug.

“Talk to them then.” When she pulled away, she gave me a look. “I’m here if you want to talk.”               I shook my head.

“No
, not with you. It’s just weird if I talk about it with you.” I said. I need to vent and I need to talk about things she never witnessed. I need the people who were there. Who saw things. Heard things. I need my friends right now.

“I understand
.” She said kissing my head. “I love you, Em.”

“I love you
too, Mom.” I said.

I
thought about the talk me and Alex were having upstairs then.

“Hey, M
om.” I said.

“What?”

“How much did Alex give to you?” She looked down at her hands. “I’m not mad.” I leaned on the couch armrest.

“Ten
…million.” She said softly. I can see why he gave my family the money but it still feels weird to have him give it to them. Us. “I want to give it back but he keeps saying he doesn’t need it. He’s a nice guy but he’s stubborn.”

We smiled. “
Did you tell anyone about it?” She shook her head. “Don’t. Please.”

“Sure honey. Can I ask why?”
I watched Gizmo nudge Mom’s leg.

“You know how people talk…
I don’t want them to say I’m with him because he has money.” I looked up at her. “Or because he gave
us
money.”

“
Did you talk to him about this?” Mom asked.

“Yea
h.”

“Y
ou’ll find a way around it.” She said. Then I remembered more.

“
Ohmygod, Mom. Remember that fashion show a few years ago?”

“Yes,
how can I forget? You broke some poor boy’s arm.”

I frowned at her. “I didn’t break his arm.”
I said.

“How do you know that?” I smiled.

“Because he’s my boyfriend.” I said. Her jaw dropped.

“Hi
s mother’s Gwen Sawyer?” Mom asked. I nodded. “Really? He mentioned that his family past but he never…wow. Poor thing. I must say his mother is the reason you fell in love with clothes again. After Declan wanted to turn you into a boy, you were so happy to be in that show. It’s funny how the world works.”

“I know.” I
said smiling. I kissed her goodbye then headed into the kitchen and found something delicious in a pan. I ate some and let Gizmo walk around. It’s getting dark out already so I walked back up to my room and grabbed my phone to call Tiffany.

“Hey gi
rl, what’s up?” She answered.

“Not
hing, I just wanted to tell you–” I heard something in the background. “Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m with Bryan and Liam.”
She said.

“Oh.
I just wanted to tell you we can hang out Monday. Everyone can come.” I said.

“Are we doing a sleepover again?”

“I don’t know. Alex has something planned and he said everyone would like it. So pass the word around.” I looked up at my door and my heart started racing. Alex walked in. “Hey, I have to go.”

“I
s Alex there?” She asked.

“Yeah.”
I breathed.

“Did you guys–
”

“Bye
, Tiffany.” She giggled.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Love you
, Em. The guys say hi.”

“Love you too. I say hi back.” She said something else that I
didn’t understand and hung up.