Dirty Billions: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance: (A Chicago Suits Second Chance Romance) (9 page)

“
B
aby
.” I became aware of Collin’s hand on my shoulder as he tried to wake me. Feeling as though it was the dead of night, I moaned and tried to free my shoulder of his hand.

“Tired,” I mumbled.

“We have to get up, it’s eight thirty and we need to get on the plane. We need to get going to get there for a late lunch.”

“Can’t we go for a lupper?” I said without opening my eyes. Three hours sleep, after such an eventful night, was just not enough for my body. Which freaked me out, because I always, always wake up earlier when I go to bed later. But that had been turned on its head since Collin had appeared back in my life.

With his voice low against my ear, he said “Okay, twenty more minutes but you have to skip room service for breakfast.”

“Is there coffee?”

“There’s always coffee.”

“Then fine.”

Collin kissed my cheek. Without opening my eyes, I could sense him get out of bed leave the room. I was back asleep within moments.

“Come on! Up!” Collin’s voice jolted me awake and his clapping made sure I stayed that way.

“You said twenty minutes,” I said, whining.

“It’s been forty five, so if you want to see your mom today, you’re going to have to get out of bed.”

I pushed back the cover with all the strength I could muster. With great effort, I pushed myself to a seated position and rubbed my eyes.

“Shit. I only have the skimpy dress I wore out last night, I can’t go to my mother like that.”

“Don’t worry, I took care of it. I had my driver Mo swing by your place and grab you a bunch of clothes. Plus your pills.”

My brow knitted, absorbing what he had done. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of someone going through my stuff in my apartment without me, especially my fricking birth control pills, but I guessed Collin did it to let me sleep a little longer.

I tied my hair back and staggered into the shower, letting the water pound off my torso in an attempt to move from dream state to awake state.

As I rubbed the shower gel over me, my head floated back to last night. To everything that had been said and the physical act afterwards. As I rinsed to sudsy water off me, I realized how fast my heart was beating.

Could this really be happening? Could I trust Collin not to hurt me again? After all he’d done over the past few weeks, was he just going to get up and move on to the next city he opened a new nightclub in?

* * *

E
ven though I
’d downed two cups of coffee, my eyelids were still heavy as I stepped out of the backseat of the Maybach and climbed the steps into Collin’s private jet.

I’d never stepped foot on a private jet before, and was filled with excitement as I roamed around the interior, even in my tired state.

The interior was dark, and made me think it was a nightclub with wings. All black walls and high gloss black trim, black leather seats, LED lighting and television screens scattered around the space. What had my parents thought when they set foot onboard?

Collin sat down on a sofa and patted the seat beside him. I snuggled up against him on the sofa. He pulled a seatbelt across my lap and put his arm around my shoulders. I tilted my head and rested it against him as the engines revved.

We taxied along the runway. I watched out the window behind me as we lifted off the tarmac and the Chicago faded into the distance.

I dozed a little, but was awakened by an attendant bringing me coffee. She set a table up in front out our sofa, and laid out several pastries and fresh fruit. It was heaven to my eyes. I picked up a Danish and bit a massive chunk of the gooey goodness into my mouth.

The food and drink energized me, and for the first time that day I was fully awake. Which allowed my mind to flick back over the past twenty-four hours.

How was Abbie? There had been no word from Jay, no matter how many times I checked my phone for text messages. All I could do was believe she was in the best possible place to get her the best possible care.

Satisfied, my mind switched to my mother. There had been no word from my father, other than to say how great the doctor and nurses are. I guessed we would find out more today, especially if any of the test results were back.

I sucked the last sip of coffee into my mouth and transported myself back to last night. After I’d left Marla’s. To the point when he’d said this thing between us wasn’t just a few nighttime visit calls.

And the question of the evening that he evaded percolated its way to the top of my mind.

“You promised me you were going to tell me why you don’t drink this morning.”

Collin took a sharp intake of breath and I passed him a strawberry.

“What the fuck do I want with a strawberry?”

“Something to suck on while you come up with an answer to my question.”

He took his arm off my shoulders and twisted his body in the sofa to face mine. Collin lifted his hand and brushed the back of it down my cheek.

My stomach lurched at whatever was so bad he was reluctant to tell me about it. He popped the berry in his mouth and chewed, in the slowest motion imaginable. Screw it, I wasn’t waiting any longer.

“So, you’re an alcoholic.” I stared straight into his eyes as I said the words. I tried not to sound judgmental; it wasn’t an issue I’d been untouched by.

After all, it was Abbie’s alcoholic father that crashed the car and killed him and his mother, leaving her an orphan at age seventeen. He’d never had the courage to own up to his problem and try and change things. If Collin did then he already had my respect.

“It’s hard working in a nightclub, and being around it all the time.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that last night. You promised me a story.” I held his gaze but my cheeks reddened and I had to look away. I picked up a handful of blueberries and shoved them in my mouth.

Collin’s knee jiggled beside me. Would he tell me? He’d promised, after all. If this thing was about more than sex, I required full disclosure. I shoved more blueberries into my mouth and waited.

I wanted to scream and demand he tell me. But I was sitting on his private jet, being flown down to visit my dying mother, who might not be dying anymore, now that Collin was getting her the best treatment in the world.

What do I do?
I curled my feet underneath me and nuzzled into his body. I looked up to find his eyes, but he was staring off to some far away point.

“There’s no judgement, you know. I’m mostly curious about how you’ve spent the past seven years away from me. And what went on that kept you away. Not even kept you away. Made you blank me completely.” I took another breath to carry on but decided to control myself and not overload him with my ramblings.

F
uck I’m a scumbag
. How do I begin to tell Jenny about how my life spun out of control since I’d left Chicago? Sure, it ended in me floating in a big pile of money, but I wasn’t proud of all the ways I got that money into my pockets.

And I sure as fuck wasn’t proud of the way I’d fallen into all the trappings of everything that went along with that success.

Now, having her here in my arms, I wasn’t ready to push her away again just yet. Which is no doubt how her clear-thinking, no-nonsense brain would react. But I owed her something.

I cleared my throat. “I can’t lie to you baby, things got out of control. Once I could step back from the nitty gritty of the business side, I only needed to show my face and schmooze with the elite VIPs. And that’s when things got out of hand.” She shifted her body into mine, offering something at least.

“Sounds like things really got out of hand.”

“Yep.”

“So how long did that go on for? I mean, you must’ve hit rock bottom. Isn’t that what they say always happens?”

Fuck I nearly choked on my tongue. How the fuck was Jenny always right, all the fucking time, ever since I’ve fucking known her? And now what? I wondered how much I could tell her without losing her. Because, sure as fuck, I was going to lose her when she realized how messed up my life is.

“Honolulu.”

“Isn’t that where you just came from before you ended up back in Chicago?” I rubbed her back, needing to feel the warmth of her body through her straight-talking words.

“It’s why I came back to Chicago. To clear my head.”

“Oh.” Her voice was full of surprise. I hoped to fuck my answers weren’t making her heart feel the same way as her voice. She was too good for this shit.

“Yeah.”

“So, it went on a whole lot of years before you decided to try and straighten out?”

“I am straightened out.”

“For what, two weeks?”

“Five months actually. And if I’m honest, the drinking wasn’t that out of control.” Her body shifted away from mine. That must’ve been the wrong answer for her. Shit, shit, shit. How was I going to get her past this?

“And you’re able to go right back into the same mingling every night at a new nightclub?”

“I’m smarter now. I do it less. I know how to please these fuckers enough to keep them happy while at the same time making them think I’m their best party buddy.”

“And how do you manage that?” Her voice, I don’t know, was it close to breaking, or was I projecting?

“I put a drink in their hand and make sure there’s lots of pretty girls around to buy drinks for. Even millionaires get excited about partying with a billionaire.” Jenny pushed her hand against my chest and sat up, her amber eyes penetrating deep into mine.

“So you’re a professional partier.”

“One that’s seen the errors of my ways. Thanks.” Her stance relaxed, maybe.

“So, let me get this straight. You turn up back in your hometown, for, how long? Just enough time to straighten yourself out, or is it more than that?”

“Baby, I just don’t know. All I know is I needed to change, and home seemed like the best place to make that happen.” She flung her arms up and motioned them around.

“So is that what this is really about? You’re helping my mom in order to atone for your sins?”

My face scrunched up. “What? No. This is nothing to do with any of that.”

Jenny’s stance softened and I leaned forward in the sofa, trying to coax her back to me. She stayed rooted to her spot. Fuck. What a fucking fuck up this was. Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?

At that moment, the fight attendant, Steph, appeared. She came striding out of the back with a pot of coffee in her hand but came to a standstill when she saw the awkward situation she’d walked into.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, turning on her heels.

“It’s fine Steph, I’ll have more coffee.”

Steph walked over to my cup and topped it up. I looked up at Jenny but she stayed on her spot.

“Would you like some?” Steph asked her with a broad smile only a flight attendant could manage in this kind of situation.

After a moment of silence, Jenny said, “Sure.”

Jenny moved back around the table and sat on the sofa beside me, while Steph cleared away the remains of breakfast and disappeared again into the back of the plane.

* * *

“
S
orry if I
was harsh on you,” Jenny said without turning her head to me. She leaned forwards on her elbows, her coffee mug in hand

“It’s a pretty crazy situation. I kind of wanted to keep you out of it. You know, not pull you into my shitstorm.” I rested my hand on her back, between her shoulder blades and she didn’t shrug me off. I ran it up her back, underneath her dark hair and over her shoulder.

I took a risk and tugged her back to me, and her body came. The relief blasted through me as she allowed her body to be pulled tight against mine. I put both my arms around her, holding her tight.

The plane landed. As we walked down the steps, Jenny allowed me to clasp her hand. I clutched it as the driver opened the back door for us, and she climbed in first.

She didn’t even slide all the way over on the back seat, instead stayed in the middle so when I sat down she was snug up against me.

I hoped it was from her acceptance of my spilling my shit for her, instead of nerves and apprehension over her mother. Or worse, if she felt she needed to suck up to me to keep the payments for her mother’s treatment coming out of my wallet.

Fuck she’d better not think that low of me. No matter how little she thought of anything I told her, or didn’t tell her, she couldn’t think that low of me.

We sat in silence on the ride to into the city, our fingers laced together. Daniel had set Jenny’s parents and nurse up in a serviced apartment next door. I had the address and we were on the way before it dawned on Jenny to text and tell them we were moments away.

I lifted our interlaced fingers to my lips and kissed over the tops of her knuckles. I didn’t know who I was trying to reassure more, me or her. We hadn’t even figured out where we were staying that night. Or if we were staying together. She’d probably want to stay with her parents, I assumed. But what were my plans?

* * *

“
D
ad
!” Jenny called as she bolted from the car.

Her father, Paul, had been standing at the entrance to the serviced apartment building. I waited for the driver to open my door and stepped out.

“Collin.” Her father pulled one arm off of Jenny to shake my hand.

“Paul, good to see you again.” I took his hand and started to shake, but he pulled me into an embrace, his arms around both Jenny and myself. I could feel Jenny’s heart thumping through her ribcage.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs. Do you have luggage?”

“Don’t worry, he’ll bring it.” I motioned to the driver. We didn’t have much anyway, just an overnight case. One for each of us.

Paul herded us through the door and into the elevator.

“How’s mom doing?” Jenny asked.

“Her spirits are better than ever. Collin,” he said turning to me, “My family doesn’t know how to thank you enough for this.”

Here we go
. I wasn’t there to be thanked or to have people feel indebted to me. I only wanted to help someone I cared about.

“Paul, I’m going to have to lay down a rule. I don’t want to hear another thank you for this ever again. It is the least I can do. It’s the least Sandra deserves.”

Paul’s lips pursed, like he was sucking in his cheeks in an attempt to control his emotions.

“It’s good to see you again,” Paul finally said, clasping my hand and patting my forearm.

The doors slid open and I followed Paul and Jenny out of the elevator and down the hall. A door opened about halfway down the cream hall and Sandra stepped out.

“Mom!” Jenny took off running and had her arms around Sandra within an instant. As tiny as Jenny was, her mom looked even more little and frail. I guessed it was the cancer, or the treatment, or both. Whatever it was, I wanted to make her all better for Jenny, and I would do anything in my power to make that happen.

Paul and I arrived at the door. Sandra let go of Jenny to give me a hug, her ribs and backbone protruded into my hands and I hugged her back. Uneasy, I let her go and urged the four of us into the apartment.

“How’re the accommodations, is everything okay?”

“Oh, they are simply perfect Collin, thank you so much,” Sandra said.

I looked at Paul and grimaced, and he shifted his feet.

“Would anyone like anything to drink?” the nurse asked, appearing from the kitchen area.

“Yes please, something cold,” I said and turned to Sandra and Paul, “Have you eaten lunch yet?”

“I’m just finishing it, it should be ready in a few minutes. Is a health food salad with chicken strips okay with you, sir?”

“Yes, fine. Please, call me Collin.”

The nurse dipped her head and disappeared back into the kitchen.

The four of us sat around the thick, wooden dining table. I don’t know who designed this place, but they’d definitely furnished it with grandmothers in mind.

I guess they figured old ladies would be the bulk of the customers that came to stay in if for the easy access to the hospital next door. Unfortunately for them I don’t think they realized just how much younger in spirit the old people are today compared to a few decades ago.

Jenny and her parents chatted but I tuned most of it out, freaked at the situation I found myself in. What was I doing here, playing house with a nice family like Jenny’s when I had my own fucked up thing going on in Hawaii?

What kind of a shithead was I, sitting here, laughing and chatting like this?

The nurse sat a jug of iced tea on the table, along with four glasses. I picked up the jug and poured some in each glass.

“So mom, I can’t wait any longer, have the doctors said anything?”

“Yes, yes they have. They’re getting test results back and he’s put me on a new cocktail of drugs. One he said is very promising and going to be the future of cancer treatments,” Sandra said.

“Are they proven?” I asked.

The three looked at me with disbelief in their eyes.

Paul cleared his throat and said, “I think we’re at a place where we have to try all the experimental options there are.”

I nodded to regain my composure. “Good, I knew Jenny would find the best possible place for you, Sandra. I have full confidence in the doctors here.”

We finished our meal just before two. Every second longer I sat there with them, making chit-chat like I was a part of the family, made me more desperate to get the hell out of there. Finally the nurse cleared the last of the plates and I took my opportunity.

“If you good people can excuse me, I have some business to attend to while I’m down here,” I said standing.

“I didn’t know you had a club here,” Jenny said.

A smirk spread across my face, “Babe, I have a club everywhere. It’s just whether or not I attach my actual face to it. This one’s a tier two. But I still like to keep up to date with them.”

Jenny stood and followed me to the door, twisting her hands in front of her.

“You don’t have to go, you’re welcome to stay, you know.”

“I know,” I said through a forced smile. I bent over and kissed her cheek, inhaling her scent as I did. I wanted nothing more than to taste her fully, after the things I’d told her on the plane ride. Instead, I walked out the door.