Resisting the Billionaire Collection (43 page)

"You have my word." She whispered and then
the tears came. He put his big strong arm around her and whispered
into her disheveled blonde hair.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay. Everything will
be alright."

And the words made her cry even more.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

When Sebastian came to, he was naked, alone, and
hadn't felt so calm, alive, and complete in as long as he could
remember. He looked around at his surroundings and had no idea
where he was.

Taking the luxury in, he began to piece
things together. Images and sensations returned to him like so many
dreams and unrealities.

"Five star." he murmured to himself, "or
more." He saw the rose petals and the flicker of a hundred lightly
scented romantic candles and things began to crystallize.

"Oh my holy God." He whispered as dream and
reality sorted themselves out. He jumped from the floor and ran to
the corner of the room. Behind a huge arrangement of fresh flowers,
he searched for the tiny covert camera he had installed, but found
nothing.

"Oh shit!" He hissed. "Don’t tell me he
found it." He ran to the bedroom to find his clothes. He dug out
his phone and hit play on the feed from the camera that had gone to
his phone. The images began right on cue. The door opens and there
is Alison looking like Venus on Viagra while his brother -- it
could have been him -- squirmed in anticipation bound to the
chair.

Thank God for that. At least he had the
pictures, but where the hell was the camera? Who had that?

And where the hell were Alison and Alex?

After he had left them together, he hit the
streets for hours trying to get his head straight. Then he had gone
out on the town, visiting all his old favorite haunts ostensibly to
celebrate but also to hide.

Things had almost gone according to plan but
now was the hard part.

I must have been crazy to think she would be
with me right afterwards. But I can fix it. I know I can.

He had no recollection of how he had gotten
back to the hotel, but he knew he had a hell of a lot of explaining
to do if he wanted all this to turn out right. He was sure Alex
would have helped him out. He trusted his brother absolutely and
wouldn’t let him down.

Would he? He seemed pretty pissed as well
when he had left him still cuffed to the living room chair.

The more he thought about it, the worse he
felt.

"What the hell did they say to each other?"
He wondered. And then a new kind of panic rose in him.

"Don’t tell me I’ve done it again. Please
God, not again."

He glanced at his phone and saw there were
messages for him.

The first was from Alex.

'Don't be there when I get
back.'
It said. Nothing else. "Shit. God
damn it."

The next was from Alison.

'Call me.'
It said. "Thank God." He breathed a sigh of
relief. She was still open to communication; it was all going to
work out. He would just explain it to her honestly and then she
would understand. She would forgive him.

He immediately hit ‘Call Back’ for
Alison.

She picked up immediately. "Thanks for
calling." She said before he could say a word.

"Alison--"

"Don't try to explain. You can come by to
collect your--"

"Alison! Alison?"

"Shut up, slimeball."

"MJ?"

"I said shut up. You can come by to collect
your shit tomorrow. Call in first so Alison can NOT be here when
you are."

The phone went dead.

Sebastian sat on the edge of the bed hunched
over, naked and depressed.

He took a deep breath in and straightened
himself up.

"Come on Seb, don’t give up now. You’ve made
it this far. The hard part is done. The rest is easy. She's the
one, just keep it mind. All the time. She's the one."

He set to work gathering his things and
putting his clothes on. He wanted to be very far away from there
when his brother arrived back at the hotel.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Sebastian just barely had time to get back home and
get cleaned up before heading to the Tête-á-Tête. It was going to
be a challenging morning, but he was up for it. The game was nearly
over.

He checked his phone and realized he hadn't
heard from his guy since about 9:00 the night before. He tried
calling him but it went to voicemail. That was strictly against the
rules, a dismissible offence in Sebastian’s book. He tried calling
his guy's guy but he didn’t answer either. He called the Drummond
Security main number but even there they gave him the runaround and
sent him to voicemail.

"Alex, you bastard. Come on." It must be his
brother getting back at him for his little subterfuge the day
before. He thought about calling him but hesitated.

Too soon.
He thought.
Give it
another twenty-four hours.

He broke into a sweat as he realized he
still had no idea where Alison was.

He glanced briefly at his barista uniform
and then got dressed up in his regular clothes. There was no need
for subterfuge today. Alison could know the truth already. In fact,
she needed to know the full truth as soon as she possibly
could.

He called his driver. "Forget the limo." He
said. "Bring the Maserati today."

Work was the first place to go. If Alison
wasn’t there, MJ or Olivia would know where she was. He would get
it out of them one way or another or his name wasn’t Sebastian
Drummond. Those girls hadn’t even seen him turn on the charm
yet.

When the Maserati arrived, he got straight
in without greeting the driver.

"Take me straight there." He said.

The driver knew better than to question
him.

As soon as they arrived, he walked straight
in.

There she was.

His mind went blank but he
kept walking.
Never hesitate, just
act
. It had always been his way until the
crazy uncertainty that surrounded him when he was with
Alison.

But now he was back...

She was right there at the station where he
had first laid eyes on her.

It broke his heart to see her so dejected,
confused, and angry.

But he had needed to do it. There was no
other way.

He walked straight up to her before she even
lifted her head and stood directly before her. He knew he wouldn't
have much time.

"Alison." He said. "I'm not who you think I
am."

She raised her eyes and he could see she had
been crying. His heart broke all over again, but he had to
continue.

The plan was almost complete.

"My name is Sebastian Drummond and together
with my brother Alex, I'm the heir to the Drummond Family
Corporation."

She looked at him with a mixture of longing
and rejection.

"I can explain yesterday. Really, I can. I
love you. Please don't shut me out."

She said nothing.

"Get the fuck out of here!" MJ shrieked from
the doorway at the back of the shop. Sebastian flinched. He
wouldn't win an argument with MJ now, not after last night. Not if
Alison had already told her the full story.

"I don't know what you did to my friend but
you are finished here, asshole."

"Did she tell you what happened?" He
said.

"No. And I don't give a damn. I just want
you out of here. I'm warning you Daniel, I told you to call ahead
and I meant it."

"My name's not Daniel. It's Sebastian and
I'm head of Drummond International. Joint heir to the Drummond
Family Corporation."

MJ stopped in her tracks. She had heard of
Drummond. There had even been talk at one time of their swallowing
the tiny Tête-á-Tête franchise like a whale taking on so much
plankton.

"I came to New York incognito to find love."
Sebastian continued. "I needed to meet someone without being this
thing called Sebastian Drummond for a while. I wanted to find
someone who would see me for who I really am and accept me that
way, not as a Forbes list billionaire."

Olivia came out of nowhere. "I'll take you
just as you are." She said, her breasts already pressing against
his left arm.

"Not now Olivia, for God's sake." MJ said.
"Back off. I've got to think here."

Customers were waiting for coffee,
transfixed by the exchange.

Alison was still staring, her eyes slowly
filling with tears.

"Alison," MJ said, "What did he do to you?
Was it that bad?"

"I love you Alison, I want you. Please don't
say shut me out. Please hear me."

"Come on Alison," a stranger said, "give the
guy a chance, he's pouring his heart out to you."

"He wants you, for crying out loud."

"Yeah, and we want coffee too."

“
Okay." Alison finally
said. "I'll give you a chance to explain."

"Thank God." He said. "Thank you, Alison.
It's all I can ask for." He reached for her hands to press them to
his lips but she pulled them away.

"Explain it then."

"I don't understand." He faltered.
"Here?"

"Yes. Explain what you did to me, right
here, and right now, in front of everyone. If you have nothing to
be ashamed of then it should be no problem."

"I don't really think these people care
about--"

"Yes we do!" A woman hollered.

"Damn straight." Said another. "I ain't
leaving without an explanation."

Sebastian put his hands to his face and then
ran them through his dark hair.

This hadn't been part of the plan.

"We're waiting." MJ said.

“
Okay, okay. I'll do it.
Let's see what these people -- these random strangers here -- think
about our sex lives."

There were some gasps of shock, some coos of
satisfaction. Customers on their way out the door turned and sat
down to hear more.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" MJ
said.

"Just let him speak." Alison said. "I want
to see him tell the truth for once, right here, right out in the
open where he can't hide."

“
Okay, Alison." He said.
"This isn't the way I want it, but if it's what you want, then I’ll
do it. Get ready, people." He took in a deep breath to prepare
himself. "Last night I tried to trick my twin brother into having
sex with the woman I love."

There were gasps of shock and
disapproval.

"God damn sonofabitch."

"Shitty asshole."

"I know people. I know--"

He fell back under the heavy blow to the jaw
MJ delivered to him. The two women he fell against pushed him back
to MJ, who got ready to hit him again.

"Stop, MJ." Alison said. "So far so good.
He’s telling the truth and that’s a start. Now tell us all just why
in the hell you would do such a thing."

"I owed him one." He said.

"Hit him again." Someone said and MJ got
ready while he cowered.

"Let him continue." Alison said. "I want to
hear it all."

"There was a time when I almost slept with
the woman he loved, just before he did. She thought it was him.
We’re twin brothers -- identical twins. Our own mother can barely
tell us apart. She was in love with him. I was in love with her, or
I thought I was. So I tricked her. I needed to make things right
again."

"That is just sick, my man."

"Hit him again. In the balls this time."

"So you just used me?" Alison said. "To pay
a debt back to your brother?"

"If somebody doesn’t hit him, I sure as hell
will." A tall woman next to Sebastian said.

"It’s not like that at all. I’m not
explaining it right. The words are coming out wrong. One year ago,
almost to the day, I almost slept with the woman he loves. Don't
you get it? I slept with 'The One' for him. After all his years of
searching and bad relationships, she was the one for him. He had
found her. I was so jealous of him, for his happiness, and for the
beautiful girl he had found. When she picked him instead of me, I
went crazy. I couldn’t take it. We were marooned. The three of us,
on an island."

"Hey, I remember that story." Someone said.
"Some crazy shit happened out there on that island."

MJ remembered it too but in her mind, it was
different. It had been pure romance. A billionaire was trapped on a
tropical island with the flight attendant who was supposed to look
after him on his trip and then they fell in love.

"Didn’t your brother stand to lose a fortune
because of that?" She said.

"Yes. That’s it exactly, MJ. Thank you."

"Don’t thank me." She said. "I might not be
done hitting you yet."

"We both risked losing our inheritance, our
careers, everything we had worked for our entire lives just for
being in love with this woman who happened to work for one of the
companies we own. It was a crazy rule our father had. But we didn’t
care. Both of us were ready to sacrifice it all."

"And you were ready to lie and cheat as
well?" Alison said.

He dropped his head. "It’s true. I was
willing to do anything. I was so crazy in love with her and so
distraught that she had chosen him instead of me."

"Hey, you can’t help your feelings, brother.
We all done crazy things when we’s in love." A tall man in dark
shades said kindly.

"She figured out the difference between us
at the last minute. Thank God. But I’ve never been able to forgive
myself since then. So I had to do the same for him. I had to find
the one for me and then offer her to him. If she really were the
one, then she would know the difference and everything would be
okay. That’s why I went ahead with it, Alison. You have to believe
me. I just knew everything would be okay. I knew you wouldn’t let
me down."

Alison was staring at him. Her huge round
blue eyes were beginning to moisten.