Bad Girls Do It Better (Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (13 page)
Read Bad Girls Do It Better (Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) Online
Authors: Aubrey Michelle
As promised, as soon as we got off the boat, Liam was on the phone with the wedding designer. There was going to be some things we’d have to do in order to get married legally. The first thing we needed to do was get in touch with the American Embassy for a marriage license that would be recognized in the United States. Normally, we would have to live in France for 40 consecutive days before we could get married there but Liam was able to contact some people and pull some strings.
By that evening, the two of us had exchanged vows and were officially husband and wife. The ceremony was small and quaint. It took place right outside a little cafe and we had someone snapping some pictures for us. We’ve decided to hold off on telling anyone. Liam still wants to give me a big wedding in the states and I’m excited about that. Even if this little ceremony was all we had, I’d still be a happy woman for the rest of my life.
Lexi
Sarabelle and Christian are the only ones who know that Liam and I got married in Paris last year. Some people suspect it, especially since I refuse to take the huge rock off my finger, but we keep promising that a wedding is coming. I’m sure it will at some point but he seems to want it more than I do. I’m happy just having him. He thinks I need all of these amazing things like a big wedding with beautiful gowns and lots of food but all I need is him and one day he’ll see that.
Watching my sister walk down the aisle on her wedding day was the second happiest day of my life. It’s always been her dream to find the perfect man to settle down with. I have to admit that I was a little surprised when she told me she was dating Christian Wilde.
Okay, I was more than a little surprised. I was stunned. He’s always been the playboy who collected women like it was a hobby. I asked her all the time if she was sure that he was what she wanted. He was the bad boy and the bad boys can never change. At least, that’s what I used to think.
Being with Liam has taught me that you can’t always judge a book by its cover. I always assumed Liam was just an all-around nice guy. A little geeky, sure, but nice. Never in a million years would I have dreamed that he had such a dark side to him.
I love that he can turn it off and on whenever he wants. There are some nights when I love that side of him and I want him to punish me and make me his little bad girl. Other nights, I want to lay beneath him while he kisses me and makes love to me slowly. Whichever mood I’m in, he has no problem giving me what I want.
There is no better example of someone being able to change than me. I was always the bad girl and didn’t have any intention of changing. I didn’t care what anyone thought of me and I was going to do whatever I wanted, regardless of who I had to step on to do it. Liam coming along changed something in me. He showed me that my bad girl persona was not who I really was.
I was hiding my true self underneath layers because I was scared to get hurt. He came along and showed me that not only could someone love me, but that I deserved to be loved. I owe him a lot of gratitude for putting the good girl back into me. I’ll love him forever for that.
At Sarabelle’s wedding reception, my sister came up to me with Christian by her side to whisper in my ear that she was pregnant. She was going to be making an announcement near the end of the reception but she wanted to make sure that I was the first person who knew.
She’d only found out about two weeks prior and wasn’t showing yet. I gave her a hug and cried, something that I would have never done in public before. I was going to be an aunt and I was very excited.
“There’s one other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Sarabelle said. “We’re not going to go on our honeymoon to Christian’s villa.”
“What? Why not? It’s so beautiful in the Alps!”
“I know, but we’re both so tired from all this wedding stuff. I don’t feel like flying anywhere and would rather spend some quality time with him at home. I also don’t want the tickets to go to waste and know that you and Liam haven’t gotten a honeymoon. We’d like to give you our tickets so you guys can get away and enjoy yourself.”
“Are you serious?” I asked as she handed to tickets over to me. “You’re the best. I love you so much!” I said, hugging her once again. “Come on, you guys had your first dance. Now you get to dance with your sister.”
The rest of the night was spent partying and celebrating with my sister. For so long, we’d been two entirely different people. We had our own sets of friends and rarely did we ever do anything together.
Yet, in the end, we were closer than we had ever been before. The good girl and the bad girl, more alike than anyone ever dreamed we could be. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
By Aubrey Michelle
Copyright 2016 Aubrey Michelle
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real people, places, or events is strictly coincidental. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the expressed written permission of the author. Exception is made in the case of brief quotations used in published reviews.
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Sarabelle
Everyone always tells me that I need to put myself out there more. I feel like every other day, someone is telling me that I’m never going to find a man by keeping myself holed up at home all the time. Regardless of how many times I insist that I’m not even actively looking, I get the same responses. I’m always told that the best man will come along when you’re not looking for love. That’s a term I’ve heard thrown around at least a hundred times but it never really sits well with me. What if I’m not actively looking because I’m really not interested in finding love? I’ve had too many bad experiences with men that have promised me the world only to leave when they find out that I’m not the social butterfly everyone expects me to be.
Lexi is my sister and, although we are identical twins, she is pretty much the opposite of everything that I am. While people are often referring to me as shy and sweet, I frequently hear people call my sister the black sheep of the family. She is confident and outspoken. If she has something to say to you, she’s going to say it regardless of how her words make you feel. If you’ve ever seen the movie Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan, Lexi is exactly like the Regina George character that’s played by Rachel McAdams. I’ve often speculated whether or not the movie was actually based on my sister’s life.
My friends always ask me why I put up with her. They love to tell me that, as an adult, I don’t have to deal with the things she says to me. A lot of people have said that they wouldn’t blame me if I stopped talking to her and completely cut her out of my life. Although putting a stop to all of her nonsense once and for all by completely ceasing contact sound nice sometimes, I could never do it. The two of us have been through way too much together. There were times when she was the only person there for me and vice-versa. We helped each other through the darkest times in our lives. She wasn’t always the person she is now.
When we were thirteen years old, my sister and I went off to teen travel camp. We’d attended summer camps ever since we were in kindergarten but being able to go to travel camp was a big deal. It meant that you were one of the big kids and you got to do a lot more exciting things. Instead of doing normal camping stuff, we had a summer full of trips and experiences. That year, we were able to go deep sea fishing, speed boating, and tubing on the Delaware. On top of that, we were taken to a New York Yankees game, a New York Liberty WNBA game and Camel Beach water park. I never wanted it to end and neither did Lexi. It was stacking up to be the greatest summer of our lives but that changed in the blink of an eye.
There was only about a week of camp left and we had just woken up. We were getting dressed when we got called into the counselor’s office. When we walked in, we were greeted by two police officers and a woman who worked for Westchester County social services. Overnight, our home had burned to the ground and neither my mother nor father were able to make it out. We went from enjoying a fun summer surrounded by our friends to being orphans in a matter of seconds.
We were turned over to social services immediately and placed in a temporary home. That home became the first of many that we would land in as we were shuffled around in the system. Many times, the state of New York tried to separate Lexi and me but we fought hard to prevent it. We were fed plenty of excuses about how the only places the state had available didn’t have room for both of us. Each time we heard those words, we fought with all we had to make sure we had each other. We kept telling ourselves that we only had to make it through until our 18th birthday. Our parents had been successful entrepreneurs and had left us both hefty inheritances. As soon as we were legal adults, we would be able to claim the money and start new lives for ourselves. I tried to make the best of a terrible situation and kept a positive outlook no matter what. Lexi found that much harder to do. The experience changed her and I wondered if she would ever be the same.
Sarabelle
Out of the system for five years, I was determined to make sure that everything my parents built continued to grow to match their vision. After their deaths, a consulting group that had worked closely with them stepped in and made sure the business ran smoothly. Again, the business had been left to my sister and I but neither of us knew anything about the business world. My parents kept home life and business life separate and we were too young at the time to learn anything from them anyway. I was amazed to see that the consulting group was able to not only keep the company afloat, but they made it thrive in ways that my parents would have loved. Once I was of legal age, I attended business meetings to see if I could get a handle on what was going on. Instead, all I saw was a group of young professionals that loved the business just as much as my mom and dad did. In the end, we worked out a deal that would allow them to license the name LexiBelle Ventures, which my parents chose because it was a combination of me and my sister’s names. On top of the licensing agreement, my sister and I would both retain a total of 25% of the company but would not be active in the day to day business. This ensured we would always have income and could focus on what we were going to do with our lives next.
Even at 23 years old, I still didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do. I’ve thought of becoming a doctor or a lawyer but neither of those really piqued my interest as much as I would have liked. I really thought I might enjoy being a social worker and using the experiences I saw within the system as a blueprint for what not to do. It sounded good but, even with my heart in it, how much would I actually be able to change? When I started thinking that way, I realized I was back to square one, which was having no clue what to do with my life. I did know, however, what I was going to do on that particular night. After much prodding and begging by one of my best friends, I was going to be attending the annual Scarsdale Gala. I’ve never been to one before but everyone around here says that everybody who’s anybody attends the gala. I don’t think I’m one of these everybody’s who’s a somebody but I was talked into going regardless.
“What are you going to wear to the gala?” Lexi asked me early the week before.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I responded. “I’ll probably just pull something out of my closet. I’m sure I’ve got a dress in there somewhere.”
Lexi looked at me as though I had two heads.
“Sarabelle, don’t you know that the Gala is
the
social gathering of the year? Just pulling out some old dress from your closet isn’t gonna work. Besides, I’ve seen the clothes you keep in there and, trust me, you’d get laughed out of the building.”
“What? I would not. Besides, what does it matter what I wear? It’s just a dance.”
“Just a dance? Are you kidding me right now? Do you even know where this event is taking place? Come here, let me show you.”
Lexi grabbed her laptop and came over to sit on my bed. She opened it up and brought up the website of the Grand Roosevelt Ballroom. It was gorgeous. The whole place looked like it was straight out of Cinderella. Of course, Lexi would be the one who would get the attention as the princess. I wouldn’t be noticed at all. I may as well have been the fairy godmother in the background saying bibbdy-bobbidi-boo.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. “What am I going to do? I don’t even know how to start shopping for something that would look good for this gala.”
“What is wrong with you? One of these days you’ll wake up and realize that you’re rich and can do whatever the hell you want. Take your ass down to The Best Dressed of Westchester and pick out a damn ball gown. I don’t know why you have to make everything so difficult.”
She was right. There was nothing in my closet that would even come close to being good enough to wear into that ballroom. I swallowed my pride, called Best Dressed Westchester and spoke with Michelle. She asked me a bunch of questions and when she realized that I needed a dress for the gala, she made an appointment on the spot. By that evening, I was hoping I would have my dress.
When I got to the shop, I was surprised to see that I was the only customer there. Michelle explained to me that they only do private appointments when selecting dresses for the gala. I didn’t know what all the excitement was about and wasn’t particularly fond of that big of a deal being made for me but I was already there so I went with it. Several racks of dresses had been selected for me and I spent the next three hours trying on a variety of dresses. I have to admit, it made me feel like a princess and for a little while as I allowed myself to escape into that fantasy world. By the time I walked out of there, I had agreed to buy a beautiful dress made by Jovani. The dress even had a name. It was labeled as “The Belle of the Ball” which I thought was corny and amazing all at the same time. Michelle told me that it would be taken in and adjusted for my exact measurements, ensuring I would look fabulous.
“When do I come to pick the dress up?” I asked.
“Honey, we have so many orders for the gala right now and my tailor is working as fast as he can. I can only promise you that it will be ready the morning of the gala. If it’s any earlier than that, I’ll be sure to call you and let you know.”
I’d been pacing around the morning of the gala hoping that I’d have something to wear that night since my dress still hadn’t been tailored for me. I called the shop and Michelle said there were a couple dresses that were still ahead of mine. She kept promising me that it would be done in plenty of time and that she’d call me when it’s done. Now, it was almost noon and I was still waiting. A friend of Lexi’s was coming over to do our hair and makeup but it was important that I be in my dress when she got here.
“Will you sit down, Sarabelle? You’re annoying the shit out of me with all of your walking back and forth,” Lexi griped.
“I’m sorry Lexi! It’s just that if this dress isn’t ready in time, I won’t be able to go tonight. As much as you’ve all been on me to get out of the house, I know I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t show up.”
My phone started ringing as soon as I had finished my sentence. My dress was ready and waiting for me to pick it up.
“Do you want to come with me to pick it up, Lexi?” I asked my sister, excited to show her what I had picked out.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll see it whenever you get back. Besides, I can only imagine what a dress you picked out must look like. If I go with you, I probably wouldn’t let you leave the store with it.”
I couldn’t believe how mean and hateful she was being to me. While it was true that she hadn’t been overly kind to me for quite some time, she usually stopped short of being mean to me directly. On the other hand, I could kind of see where she was coming from. I don’t really have the greatest fashion sense in the world. I’m not like the rich and famous people we’re constantly surrounded by; I’m more of a homebody who likes to kick it in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Maybe it’s because when we were battling to stay together in foster care, I didn’t really care what I looked like. I’ve never been a materialistic person, unlike my twin. That didn’t change the fact that I thought the dress I had picked out was gorgeous and I didn’t care what she said. I was happy with it and that’s all the mattered.
When I got back home, I was relieved to find out that our friend was going to be later than we expected. It left me plenty of time to take a shower and get dressed before she arrived, which was good because I needed to shave my legs before I even thought about going anywhere in a dress. It was nice to be able to enjoy the shower instead of having to rush around like I thought I was going to have to do. I closed my eyes as the warm water ran over my body. I allowed my mind to wander and I started daydreaming about what the dance was going to be like. Public events like this are not my thing but I promised myself that I’d do my best to enjoy it.
As I got out of the shower and began drying off, I spied Lexi messing with my dress out of the corner of my eye. At first, I thought she was just looking at it while I was out of the room since she claimed to not care what I picked. It wasn’t until I saw her taking it off the hook I had hung the hanger on and started walking towards her room that I realized something wasn’t right.
“Lexi, what are you doing?” I yelled down the hall right before she went into her door.
“There is no way you picked this dress out for yourself Sarabelle. Who did you take to the dress shop with you?”
“Nobody. I picked it out by myself.”
“Bullshit, you don’t have an eye for fashion to be able to pick out something like this. I actually love this dress and I’m going to wear it to the gala tonight. You can wear the black dress I picked out for myself. It will probably look better on you anyway. It doesn’t show nearly enough cleavage for my taste.”
I couldn’t believe she was going to take my dress and think I wouldn’t have a problem with it. That was my dress and I’ll be damned if she was going to steal it from me. I stormed down the hall and into her room, which she had just walked into.
“That’s my dress Lexi and you need to give it back to me right now.”
“Or else what? Are you going to get mad? Are you going to beat me up? Give me a break,” she said, knowing that I get extremely emotional when I get angry.
“Just give me the dress. I paid for it and I really want to wear it,” I said, my voice breaking a couple times as I tried to fight back tears.
“Did you hear what I said? It’s not going to look good on you. I’m only trying to save you from embarrassing yourself.”
“You know what, Lexi? You get all your little friends to do whatever you want and they follow you like some kind of cult leader. You don’t get to do that with me. You and I went through too much together. I’m tired of you always getting your way. I’m putting my foot down when it comes to the dress.”
The look on Lexi’s face changed. While she was being a sarcastic smart-ass before, I managed to make her infuriated. She was so mad that she grabbed the dress and slammed it hard into my chest.
“Here bitch, just take your damn dress and get out of my room.”
I tried to avoid it but I started crying by the time I made it to my room. She calls everyone a bunch of different names but she never calls me anything. The fact that she called me a bitch cut a little deeper than it should have.
“Are you sad, bitch? Why don’t you go cry to that gay boyfriend of yours? That’s what you always do anyway.”
The gay boyfriend she is talking about is Liam Bane. Consequently, he is neither gay nor is he my boyfriend. He was someone I met while I was going through the system and managed to stay in touch with ever since. My sister liked to call him gay because he spent so much time with me but never tried to date me. The truth is that we’ve always been great friends and have never really had an attraction to one another. He was different than any other guy I’d ever met. It was nice to be able to get a male perspective on things without him assuming I was giving him signs that I wanted him in my panties. With Liam, I felt safe. That was why I was taking him to the gala as my date.
I managed to pull myself together before our friend Becca arrived to do our hair and makeup. Becca worked at one of the most exclusive salons in New York and was the go-to girl for celebrities when they were in town. Lexi grabbed her as soon as she got there and pulled her into her room to do her hair first. I had a feeling she called her in there out of spite, hoping that she wouldn’t get a chance to do mine which would lead me to going to the gala looking like I’d just rolled out of bed. I had news for her, though. As much fun as it is to have someone do your hair and makeup, I was more than capable of doing my own. Since I already knew what she was up to, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the bathroom.
Under usual circumstances, I am not your typical girl who primps and preens in front of a mirror for ages when getting ready to go somewhere. This, however, is one of those nights where it’s absolutely necessary. My dress is gorgeous; it’s long and silky and the cutest shade of powder blue I’ve ever seen. The strapless gown had sequins around my cleavage, yet it wasn’t meant to draw attention to my breasts. My dress is beautiful and classy.
After getting into the dress, I spent nearly two hours getting made up to go to the dance. For a while, I was asking myself what I was doing. I was going to the dance with Liam and I knew I didn’t have to get made up for him. Who was I trying to impress? I was able to answer my own question quickly. I wasn’t attempting to impress anyone. I missed out on proms and homecomings and this was my way to make up for lost time. I wanted to look like a beautiful princess and dammit, that’s what I was going to do.
