His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3) (16 page)

"I know this is going to sound strange, but please hear me out before you say anything."

"Of course," he said.

"I'm going to leave.  I'll get a spare outfit and some quick luggage here, just the bare essentials, and then I'm going to take a train like we did when we got married.  I'll get off at a stop that I think is safe and stay wherever I am for awhile.  I..."

She paused.  Asher wanted to say something.  First off, he wanted to protest the entire idea of her leaving like that.  His mouth grew dry and he started to say something, to speak, to... to tell her no, but he didn't.

He couldn't.

Please hear me out before you say anything.
  He would at least do that, no matter what his initial feelings were.  It might be a good idea, to be honest.  If she left and went somewhere on a whim, without previous accommodations or plans, she'd be able to stay secluded for a few days.

He felt childish and immature for feeling this way, but a few days seemed like more than he could handle.  He loved her so much.  He didn't want to be without her.

He listened quietly while she continued telling him the rest of her plan.

***

"W
here to, boss lady?" Jeremy asked.

I had just finished telling Asher what I thought we should do, but it all seemed so surreal and strange to me still.  Yes, it was my plan, but I'd come up with it so suddenly that I still felt uncertain as to whether it was real or something I'd dreamed about.

But, no, this was real.  To be honest, it wasn't any more or less strange than any of the other situations surrounding me lately.  Compared to the rest, it might have been the most sane and regular of all.

"The train station," I said.  "I'm not sure what the departure schedule is like, though.  Can I use your phone again?"

Jeremy chuckled.  "You never gave it back, so sure.  Why not?"

I belatedly realized I still had his phone clutched tight in my hand.  After I hung up with Asher, I couldn't think about anything else besides leaving him and doing what I needed to do.  It was only for a little while, I told myself.  It would be a good thing.  I could rest and relax.  There wouldn't be any worry about someone from the media harassing me on the train; or, there shouldn't be if everything went according to plan.

I tapped to open an internet browser on Jeremy's phone and went to the Amtrak website to check for available tickets.  I hadn't been on a train in forever, but it looked a little hard to navigate through my options on the small cellphone screen.  I opted for finding a number to call instead.

I dialed and waited.  Jeremy gave me a sidelong glance.

"You can get some basic stuff right near the station," he said.  "It'll be kind of last minute travel items, but I'm sure they'll have everything you need there.  Probably some clothes, too.  Nothing exciting, but if you just want something quick, it should work?"

I nodded.  "That sounds good.  Let's do that."

After waiting and dealing with a service menu, a woman answered the phone.

"Hello," I said.  "I'm looking to buy a train ticket, but I'm not sure what my options are."

"When are you looking to travel?" she asked.  "Do you have a certain date and destination in mind?"

"Um... today?" I said.  "As soon as possible, actually.  We'll probably be at the train station in thirty minutes or so?"

"Alright..." she said.  I couldn't tell if she thought I was crazy or if this sort of last minute planning was perfectly normal; all I heard was quick typing on the other end.  "How many of you will be traveling?" she asked after a second.

"Just me," I said.

"Your destination?" she asked.

"Right, um... about that."  I fully realized this sounded strange, or at least I thought it did.  "I'm not sure where I want to go," I said.

"You don't know where you want to go?"

"Not really.  I just thought it'd be sort of fun to get on a train and go somewhere on a whim, you know?"  I tried to laugh it off a little, except honestly that's exactly what I was doing, so it wasn't all that funny.  I mean, it was funny in an impossibly strange way, but not quite an entertaining one.

"And you're departing from...?" she asked.

I told her, and she started typing some more.

"Is it going to be a problem?" I asked.

"It's a little out of the ordinary, but I'm sure we can figure something out," she said, confident.

"Alright.  Oh!  Um... another strange request," I said.

"Yes?"

"Can I have a room?  Not just a seat?"

"For yourself?" she asked.

"Yes, is that alright?"

"That's fine.  They do cost more, though."

I laughed.  I didn't mean to laugh, because it wasn't supposed to be funny, but my husband was Asher Landseer and I was fairly certain we could afford it.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, no.  Sorry, I just um... I saw something funny."  Right.  That was it.  "A room will be fine, though."

"Do you have anything specific in mind?  We have an assortment of roomettes, which are our smallest option.  Those only contain sleeping and seating arrangements, without an in-room toilet or shower.  You can use the bathroom accommodations in the common areas, though.  Or there's a variety of bedrooms, which—"

"What's the biggest one?" I asked.  "With a toilet and shower, too."

"That would be our bedroom suite," she said.  "That might be more than you need, though.  It easily sleeps four to six people, with two bathrooms, both with showers.  I'm not sure—"

"Alright, I'll take that."

She hesitated.  "You want the four person bedroom suite?" she asked.  "With two bathrooms?"

"Yes?"

"You're traveling alone?"

"Um... yes?  It's big, right?  I mean, as big as a train bedroom suite could be, at least.  I'm sure it's not like a suite at the Hilton or anything.  That's not to say it's bad.  Or worse.  Uh... that's not what I meant.  Sorry, I'm not, um..."  I stopped, collected my thoughts, and took a deep breath.  "Yes," I said.  "I would like the bedroom suite."

"Alright," she said.  "It is our most expensive option, but it includes free meals.  Or one meal.  Unless you're on the train long enough to have more than one.  Which it sounds like you might be, so... hold on a moment, let me just put in some extra information..."

After a few seconds, she quoted me a price.

"And I can get off anywhere with that?" I asked.

"Sort of," she said.  "That's for one trip, but you can renew your arrangements easily at each station stop without going through much of a hassle.  You won't have to move your belongings, but you'll need to exit the train, go to the ticket counter, and pay another trip fee.  Depending on the next location, and a few other variable factors, you'll receive a discount, as well."

"Can I just buy a bunch of tickets at once?" I asked.  "Just in case?  So I don't have to get off?"

I was fairly certain this woman hated me right now, but I'd rather do this than deal with the alternatives.

"It's certainly possible," she said, wavering.  "You might end up spending more than necessary, though.  The tickets do last for awhile, so you can use them again in the future as long as you don't wait too long, but we don't recommend that."

"Alright," I said.

"One ticket, then?"

"No, I'll take five, please."  I thought five sounded good.  Five gave me five choices of where to get off, right?  Five options, five availabilities.  It seemed like a good amount to me.

"You want five one-way tickets?" she asked; she sounded annoyed now.  "You don't know where you're departing and you want five tickets?  Ma'am, I don't want to sound rude, but is this a joke?"

"No?" I said.  I could see why she thought that, but...

She quoted me another price.

"That's fine," I said.  "How do I pay?"

"Sure," she said; I could imagine her tossing her hands into the air, at a loss for words.  "Right.  Of course.  You can pick your tickets up at the ticket window.  You'll pay there, as well.  We accept cash or credit cards, but no checks.  I'll just need a name to reserve these under.  The next train leaves in approximately forty-five minutes, or there's another in two hours.  It doesn't matter which you decide to take."

"Oh," I said.  "Alright.  The forty-five minute one sounds good, I think."  I turned to Jeremy with a questioning glance.  "Right?" I asked.

"Yeah, we can do that," he said.

"Can I get your name?" she asked.

I didn't think she believed any of this.  I thought she wanted to hang up right then and there.  I was kind of surprised she hadn't already.

"Jessika Landseer," I said.

She paused.  Maybe she really did hang up?

"You'll need identification," she said.  "A driver's license, usually, or a passport or some other form of government ID.  We take identification fraud very seriously."

"Oh," I said.  That wouldn't usually be a problem, but...

"Your purse is in the back," Jeremy said, reading my mind.  "Should all be there."

"Yes!  Jeremy, you're the best!"  I didn't mean to, but I accidentally ended up shouting into the phone, too.

"Ma'am, I don't know if this is a joke, but..."

"No, no, it's not a joke.  Sorry.  There's a lot that's been going on, though.  I've been a little out of sorts."

"Of course," she said; she must have rolled her eyes, too.  "I understand completely, what with that sex tape scandal and all."

"I know, right?  It's a lot to deal with.  And kind of rude.  That's not the half of it, either.  I don't want a lot, you know?  I mean, I guess you might think I would, because... well, I don't know.  I can understand it, at least.  It's just, that's not it, either.  I really do love my husband.  Did you see the sex tape?  I don't think I'm supposed to confirm or deny anything, um..."

Jeremy was laughing.  The car swerved slightly to the right.

"Jeremy!" I shouted.  "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?  What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The phone?  Who you're talking to?"

"Oh," I said.  I didn't really get it.  "Anyways, sorry, um... right.  Where was I?"

"You can't confirm or deny," the woman said.

"Oh, yes.  I can't confirm or deny anything, because we need to figure out some potential legal situations.  It's not nice to leak private sex tapes and nude pictures, you know?  I don't know why someone would do that.  But, so, those might not be Asher and I, but if you watched the sex tape, you... I don't mean to pry, but have you watched it?"

It took her a moment, but eventually she said, "Yes.  For curiosity's sake."

"I think we... um... it?  I think it looked really intimate, don't you?  Because that's what I have with my husband.  We've got a nice relationship.  It's very close.  Like the tape, except not really, because maybe that's not us, but if it was us, that's how it'd look, because that's how we make love.  We wouldn't just make a sex tape, we'd make a tape of us making love."

"I understand," she said.  "If you don't mind me saying, this is getting somewhat awkward."

"That's fine," I said.  "I felt like it was awkward from the beginning, but I didn't want to say anything."

That made her laugh.  "That's possibly true.  At least it's interesting?  Your ticket arrangements are all set, too.  You should be good to go."

"Thank you very much," I said.

Jeremy started laughing at me again, so I slapped his arm.  Thankfully he didn't swerve this time.  The road we were on wasn't exactly busy, but still.

"I'm glad I could help you.  I hope you have a nice trip to... wherever you end up going.  Thank you for traveling with Amtrak," she said.

"Oh!  Oh, wait a second.  Sorry," I said, interrupting her before she hung up.  "Could you help me with one more thing?"

"I'm not sure there's much more I can offer," she said.  "You've got the biggest room on the train."

I laughed.  The way she said it sounded funny.  "No, not that.  Um... this is going to sound strange," I said.

"Strange?" she asked.  "No way.  I don't believe it."

I laughed again, unintentionally louder this time.  Jeremy gave me a funny look.

"No, well... uh..."

I explained it to her.  It was possibly the strangest request I'd ever made.  Possibly the strangest one she'd ever heard, too.

***

A
fter hanging up with Jessika, Asher locked the door to her apartment.  Hunger guided him towards the kitchen, where the savory sweet smell of the pasta sauce combined with thick cut vegetables lingered.  He turned the burner on to warm up the sauce, then filled another pan with water, setting that to boil.  Once the water started bubbling, he filled the pot with half of the pasta from a generic brand box.  About ten or so minutes later, he had himself a meal.

Not quite the most orthodox breakfast, but it smelled delicious.  He ignored the sounds coming from the apartment hallway outside and made himself a plate of food before retiring to the living room.

It was sort of strange to him how easy and compact everything was here.  He could see the kitchen from the living room, and it only took a step or two to get there.  Granted, this was somewhat similar to how the guest house at the mansion was set up, but he didn't often eat there.  Occasionally Jessika wanted to have a nice night in and they'd cook together in the guest house kitchen, but for the most part they either ordered take-out or ate whatever the main house chefs wanted to cook for that particular day.  The cooks needed to prepare food for Jeremy, the gardeners, the cleaning staff, themselves, and so on, so there was always a need for food, anyways.  It just suited Asher to not have to worry about the small things like that.

Mostly it did, at least.  He knew how to cook well enough, and he enjoyed doing it with Jessika.  To be honest, he wouldn't have minded doing it every day for every single meal if he needed to, or even if he could have, no need required.  It just wasn't something that ever came up.

While he sat on her apartment couch, spinning a fork in the pasta before taking small bites, he considered that option.  Would she prefer it?  The chefs might take offense at first, but they'd get over it.