Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (17 page)

“Bye,” she said curtly as she stepped out of the car.

She looked back briefly and saw that he looked torn. He wanted to say something, that was clear. But she assumed that the last several years of his life, as he had built his empire, had tight him that apologies were never needed. She saw some of that in his character, but it was part of the power that she was drawn to. She understood it, she supposed. But right now, quite frankly, it sucked.

He decided to say nothing at all, throwing the car into Drive and pulling out into the street. Lauren stood there and watched him go, wondering if that was it.

Would that one stupid argument effectively end what she had started to think might be the one real chance she’d ever have at love…at the happy ending she had always dreamed about ever since she’d been a little girl?

She didn’t want to depress herself by even thinking of such. She stormed up the stairs to her building and walked through the doors, leaving an otherwise glorious Saturday afternoon behind her.

***

Once she was in her apartment, she was actually relieved to find that her anger was winning out over her worry of losing Riley. She’d be damned if she was going to cry over him, especially over such a ridiculous argument, so she held tightly to that anger to keep the tears away.

But when she closed the apartment door behind her, she simply stood there for a while. She looked around her apartment and couldn’t help but feel…well, a little snobby. After seeing how Riley lived and experiencing that side of life, how was she supposed to be happy about returning to her own life? Sure, if she excelled at her new job, she’d be able to knock out her debt and start saving, eventually moving up a few rungs on the social ladder. But there was something about the way she felt as she looked around her apartment that she felt distant from everything. Had being around Riley really disenchanted her from the life she’d been living so quickly?

That, of course, brought up another question: was so really so crazy about Riley because of the person he was and the traits she was seeing, or because of the lifestyle he offered?

As she sat on the couch, she actually allowed herself to think about this for the first time since they’d kissed.  The man was gorgeous, there was no doubting that. And the fact that he was rich offered a sense of security that she was not accustomed to. But beyond that, was there anything else?

She felt that there was…if there wasn’t, she wouldn’t have felt butterflies in her stomach whenever he touched her. She wouldn’t have felt so utterly whole and blissful while making love to him in the plane, looking down to the earth.

Also, she probably wouldn’t have been quite so at odds with herself, sitting alone in her apartment and analyzing every moment of the argument they’d just had.

“Damn,” she said.

She looked out of her window and saw that the afternoon continued to be gorgeous. She wondered if Riley was at his meeting yet. She wondered if he was as torn up about what had happened as she was.

And it was in that wondering that she came to understand one very scary thing: she was falling in love with him.

***

She used some of her pent up frustration and worry to clean her apartment. She put on some music and even had a casserole baking in the oven while she cleaned. It was how she usually spent her lonely Saturdays; cleaning to her was cathartic, a nice way to expel negative emotions. As she cleaned, she managed to temporarily stop worrying over Riley by envisioning what the new job was going to be like. Based on the job description, she had no doubt that she would be able to do the job—and do it well, but there was the unknown factor of it all that had her dreaming.

She couldn’t imagine a salary of $80,000 per year. She knew that it wasn’t a fortune by any means, but it was a mammoth change to the $25,000 she had made last year with the job at the shoe store and the freelance cleaning jobs she had gotten by placing an ad in the paper. The idea of being out of debt was foreign to her, as was the idea of having access money to spend.

Before she knew it, four thirty had rolled around. The apartment was clean, the casserole was done, and she had worked up a sweat. Also, though, Riley had not called her. She checked her phone to see if the music had maybe drowned out his call, but her display screen showed no missed calls. She toyed with the idea of calling him instead but thought it might be best to wait it out. She figured she’d give him until tomorrow night to call.

She was sure that he would. She didn’t see how he could set up a dinner like the one they’d shared last night and then simply abandon someone because of such a trivial argument. She didn’t want to assume that the meeting he was having was a small one, either. Maybe it would be best to give him a day or so to sort things out and cool off.

She supposed she needed to do some cooling off, too. It had been a long time since she had felt anything other than slight indifference to a man other than Mr. Farr. If she spoke to Riley right now, with her emotions running wild, she could very well make a fool out of herself.

She put her phone down and headed to the bathroom, where she showered the sweat from the cleaning session off of her. She let herself soak for a good long while before getting out and sitting down to eat by herself. She ate at the coffee table, watching an episode
of Gilmore Girls.
She did the math in her head and estimated that she could likely watch the rest of Season Four by tomorrow afternoon; hopefully by that time, Riley would have called and her
Gilmore Girls
binge watching days would be over.

She’d made it through three episodes, occasionally glancing over to her phone and willing Riley to call. She tried her best to stop because it made her feel like a foolish little high school girl, but it was nearly impossible. Was he
seriously
that upset with her? 

A knock at the door had her jumping up from the couch in excitement and anticipation. She shut off the TV and did her best to tidy up the coffee table which was still covered with her dishes from dinner. She glanced to the clock and saw that it was nearly eight o’ clock. Maybe they’d have time to go out and grab a drink, or maybe they would just stay here, hopefully mostly in the bedroom.

She took a quick moment to primp her hair as best as she could without the aid of a mirror and then walked to the door, trying to hold back her smile. The knock at the door came again when as she reached out for the handle and her heart seemed to shudder in her chest.

She opened the door and her heart instantly stopped its dance.

Scott was standing there, looking forlorn and depressed. He held a to-go box from a restaurant in his hands.

“Hey, Scott,” she said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

“Hey,” he said. “You busy?”

She glanced back to her phone and it suddenly seemed like some lost relic.
He’s pissed
, she told herself.
He’s not going to call you tonight.

“Not at all,” Lauren said. “Come on in.”

Scott came in, walking like a dog that had just been beaten by its master.

“You okay?” Lauren asked.

“Been better,” Scott said. “I had my first date in about four months tonight. It…well, it didn’t go well.”

“What happened?”

He shrugged. “We were at dinner and when the waitress came by to ask of we wanted dessert, my date said no pretty quickly. She then said she could walk herself back to her car. No hug, not even a handshake. She just left me when we got out of the restaurant.”

“Yikes. Sounds like a bitch.”

“I don’t even know,” Scott said. “I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her to find out.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here,” she said. “I’m just watching more
Gilmore Girls
, but you’re more than welcome to stay.”

“Thanks,” he said, stepping into the apartment and heading directly for the couch.

“Dating sucks,” she said, joining him on the other end. She so badly wanted to tell him about Riley. Hell, she wanted to tell
everybody
about Riley.  But this was not about her right now. Right now, her friend needed some consoling.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lauren asked.

“Maybe some other time,” Scott said. “For now, I just need to be around someone I know. The thought of heading back to my apartment after such a failure of a date only to watch Doctor Who all night long was depressing.”

“Okay, then maybe we won’t watch my show, either,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll tell you what…you have your leftovers, and I’ll mix up some margaritas. Sound good?”

“Sounds excellent,” he said.

Lauren got up and started making margaritas. She felt bad for Scott in a way that she was not used to. After the blissful three days she’d recently had, it was depressing to know that not everyone got caught up in the same sort of passion so easily. Yes, she had admitted to herself earlier that she was falling in love with Riley, but she knew that to call what they had love might be a bit far-fetched. But whatever they had—recent stupid argument aside—she thought everyone should get to have a glimpse of it at some point in their lives. Especially someone as sweet and well-intentioned as Scott.

With the batch of margaritas done, Lauren headed back over to the couch with two glasses filled with her concoction. She put on some music and let Scott tell her about his problems. He was a naturally funny guy so even in his complaining, Lauren found herself laughing a lot.

Before she knew it, her first margarita was empty and she was refilling them, nearing the bottom of the pitcher. She sat back down on the couch and realized that in the hour since Scott had been here, she had not looked at her phone a single time. It was good to be distracted, to be laughing and not worrying herself sick over what Riley may or may not be thinking.

“How about you?” Scott asked, apparently done with filling her in on his failed relationships over the past few months. “What’s new in your world?”

I’m going to tell him, she thought. Sure, Shelly and Brittany know, so half the town will know soon enough. But yeah, I’m going to tell Scott and hope it doesn’t make him too upset.

She opened her mouth to do just that but was interrupted by another knock on the door.

She looked to her watch and saw that it was 9:35. She had no idea who would be coming by at such an hour and—

Riley
, she thought.

“One second,” she said, getting up and heading for the door.

When her hand touched the knob, she was somehow certain that it was indeed Riley on the other side. Her body could practically feel him there, waiting to see her. She opened the door slowly and peered out.

Sure enough, Riley was standing there. He gave her a smile as he held a bouquet of roses out to her. “So that was a pretty stupid fight,” he said. “And I was an ass. I’m so sorry, Lauren. Would you—,”

His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head forward. He was looking beyond her, into the apartment.

“Who’s that?” Riley asked.

His sentiment was gone, as was the good natured look that he had been wearing on his face. He stepped into the apartment, thrusting the roses out to Lauren. She was so taken by surprise that she could do nothing more than accept them and give him a look of utter shock.

“What…?”

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

Scott turned and looked at Riley. He looked like a deer that’s been caught in the headlights and is about to get run down by a big speeding truck.

“Hey, I uh…,” Scott said.

“Who the hell is this?”  Riley asked.

“This is my neighbor,” Lauren said, quickly not liking where this was going. She had never seen Riley like this. It was more than unexpected…it was downright scary.

“Hey man, I don’t know what’s going on,” Scott said, “but I—,”

That’s when Riley threw the first punch.

It was thrown almost blindly, in a rage that was still taking Lauren by surprise.
What the hell is happening? This isn’t Riley,
she thought.
This can’t be Riley.

And then Scott, bless his heart, fell backwards on the couch rather than getting up to defend himself. As Riley advanced on him, he looked back to Lauren as if he was hurt and could not believe what he was seeing.

He threw a second punch, this one landing squarely in Scott’s stomach. Scott let out an oof sound that broke Lauren out of her paralysis. She went rushing to Riley, grabbing him by his shoulders and spinning him around so that he had to look at her. When their eyes met, she could tell that he was already regretting what he had done. But it was too late…and he knew it.

“What in God’s name are you doing?”  Lauren demanded. “He’s my neighbor! He’s a friend. And quite frankly, you’re acting like a psycho!”

Riley nodded and she thought he might be on the verge of crying. He looked from Lauren and then back to Scott, still sprawled on the couch and gasping for breath. Riley then took a step towards Lauren and it saddened her that her first instinct was to take a step back.

“I’m sorry,” Riley said. “I’m so sorry…,”