A Double Dose of Billionaire: Part Three (3 page)

I needed to talk to Kristie, but what was I supposed to tell her?

Oh, the twins confessed their love to me, but I don't want to get together with them because they like, you know, gagged me and tied me up on a bed, causing me a massive panic attack
—definitely not something to tell a friend.

I walked out of the washroom, the pounding in my head threatening to smash through my skull. I had just vomited into the toilet again. Maybe my period was arriving soon. Speaking of which, it was supposed to arrive four days ago.

Four days wasn't a huge biggie, right?

In the midst of my making a smoothie—because smoothies were my cure for every ailment—my cell phone rang. I hoped Kristie was calling. I needed some of her bubbly magic.

But it wasn't Kristie. I couldn't recognize the number appearing on my screen.

I tapped on the green button. "Scarlet speaking."

"I'm sure you've heard the news about your father?"

A woman was on the other end of the phone. Who else but my mother and the twins would know about my father losing his job? I hadn't had the time to tell anyone else, yet. Not even Kristie knew.

I turned off the noisy blender. "May I know who this is?"

"We met a few days ago. I didn't think you'd forget who I am so quickly,
whore."

At the mention of that last word, a series of clicks occurred in my mind. The pieces added up with a domino effect. My dad's company wouldn't get rid of a skilled, contributing individual for something as shallow as his daughter's relationship. Somebody else must have played a part in it—a spiteful individual who bought her way through everything using money. I recognized the woman the minute she called me a whore.

"Hi, Mrs. Crawford," I said, my voice steely. The acid in my gut seemed to burn against my stomach walls. Anger seeped through me, but at the same time, helplessness. My dad was fired because of this bitch, and I couldn't do anything but complain to the twins. Even then, would the twins be able to stand up against their mother?

"I can give your dad his job back. I can have him promoted, even."

My shoulders stiffened. "Thank you for your offer—"

"
If
you leave the twins."

"—but I must decline."

"I thought you would. Stubborn, greedy people like you don't back down easily. I managed to find out where that friend of yours works. Kristie, is it? Studied in NYU with you for four years. Double major."

I let out a steady breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't think she would like getting fired... or evicted. As you know, Crawford owns many properties. She happens to be staying in one of our apartments."

No.
Not Kristie. I didn't want to pull her into this. She didn't deserve any of the trouble I caused. "Why the fuck are you doing all this? The twins are grown men. They can date whoever the hell they want."

"I don't like you," she quipped.

I paused, waiting for her to elaborate, but after a few awkward seconds, I realized her answer was simply that. "Really?" I replied disbelievingly.

I heard her sigh. "I don't like you, and I like getting my way. You're an eyesore, Scarlet, and me having my way would be to have your life completely ruined."

The taste of vomit in my mouth got stronger. This woman was utterly insane. "You have too much time on your hands. Leave me alone."

"I do, and watching you crumble is entertaining."

"You're not going to have any of that, bitch."

I pulled the phone from my ear and immediately hung up. I couldn't be bothered wasting my minutes with a total jerk like Mrs. Crawford. She didn't seem to be backing down, and I wasn't so crippled to the point where I would start begging her for forgiveness and mercy.

I had to warn Kristie, but what good would that do? I didn't want her out in the streets. Maybe I could ask the twins for a favor. They could give her a job, like they did with me. I scowled. I didn't want to ask the twins for any more favors. I just threatened to leave the company for God’s sake.

I poured the smoothie into a cup and finished it quickly before putting the cup into the sink. I needed to sleep. The news had completely exhausted what little energy I had for the day.

I paced my way to my room, which was right next to the twins, thinking about wrapping my fingers around their arms. I wanted to sigh into their necks while they drew circles on my belly.

Gritting my teeth together, I steeled my resolve to be mad at them. But we hadn't cuddled since the Paris trip. It had been a downward spiral of drama since then. Going back to last Wednesday, when everything seemed perfect, sounded nice.

Anxiousness gripped my heart. What if we could never go back?

I should have washed my makeup off, but I was at that point where all my reserves had been drained and rinsing my face sounded like too much of a chore.

I changed into a loose t-shirt;
their
loose t-shirt, and wrapped myself underneath the blanket.

I hadn't fallen asleep so quickly in a long time.

***

The sound of the door creaking open woke me up. It was still dark. I couldn't have slept for that long.

Rubbing my eye as my vision cleared, I saw the silhouette of one of the twins standing at the doorway.

"I didn't mean to wake you," Riley said. He walked over to my bedside.

Still feeling disorientated from waking up, I momentarily forgot about how angry I was. He hadn't changed out of his suit, looking like my perfect corporate prince charming. The lighting made his jaw appear even more chiseled than normal. I had to hold myself back to not reach out and run my fingers on his jawline. "You look wonderful," I said, smiling a half-smile.

What the actual hell?
Was I drunk? I started thinking of ways I could retract my foolish statement. Nothing came to mind. That statement was too blatant.

Thankfully, Riley acted as if he didn't hear it. He put his hand on my forehead. "Are you feeling better?"

I opened my mouth and shifted my jaw around, testing my headache. It had more or less disappeared. "Yeah." The atmosphere had become uncomfortable again.

He took my hands in his. His hands were so big, coarse, and masculine. Gently, he brought my fingers to his lips and trailed them across his mouth. He studied me as he did, and my eyes watched him carefully.

"Where is Ryan? I need to talk to the both of you." I tugged myself away. The disappointed expression lacing his features made me regret my action.

He frowned. "He's back in our room. He's not taking your rejection very well."'

Was Riley bothered by my searching for Ryan? It caused happiness to boil in my chest in a strange way. He was cute when he got jealous.

"Your mother called me,” I said.

The frown cut deeper. "And why would she do that?"

I licked my lips, wondering whether I should spill everything. If all the implications fell squarely on my shoulders, I might have kept everything to myself without batting an eyelid, but my dad was just fired and Kristie was next in line. "Your mom... she hasn't been very nice lately."

Riley groaned. "What the fuck did she do this time? Did she offer money for you to leave us?"

"How did you find out?"

He palmed his face. "She does this all the time. That stupid mother of mine." Unexpectedly, he bent down and gave me a hug, one that felt like relief. It was tender, yet strong. I didn't push back, soaking in the sincerity of the hug, and being a little stunned at the same time.

As he squeezed me tighter, he said, "Thank God, you're still with us."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He pulled back. "Every woman my mother met got the same offer. We used to wonder why they'd leave without a word sometimes, and then finally, one of the girls told us about our mother, right before she left."

"Why would she want to keep doing that?" I bit my tongue as I coaxed myself not to get jealous over the fact that there had so many women who had been in the twins' bed before.

"To torment us." The words hissed under his breath.

Raising a brow in confusion, I stated, "But she's your mother."

"Not all mothers love their children."

I squinted my eyes, not quite understanding him. "But she's
your mother
," I repeated.

"Don't be fooled by the way she treats us. She hates us." His lips pressed together as he thought over something, presumably his past. "She's a little messed up in the head."

I didn't prod further, not wanting to bring up unwanted memories. Though, there must have been some sort of misunderstanding between the twins and Mrs. Crawford. No mother would purposely torment their child. It sounded an awful lot like a lack of parent-child communication.

 "She called me after I got home," I said. "My dad got fired because of her."

I paused to let the information sink in, and then continued, saying, "Kristie is going to lose her job if we don't do something about it. She might even be kicked out of her home."

Riley cursed under his breath.

"Those girls who didn't take the money... what happened to them?"

His lower jaw tightened. "You're the first who hasn't."

Surprised, my eyes widened. "None of them stayed?"

"They were all only flings, sticking around for the jewelry and designer goods we gave them. So when my mother offered them a huge sum of money, they fled as soon as they could. We didn't care much. They were there for fun anyway."

I forced myself not to smile. Knowing I meant more to the twins, compared to their chain of ex-girlfriends, made me contented.

He lightly brushed his lips over my forehead. "I'll talk to Ryan about this. We'll think of something. Don't worry about it."

"Can you do anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's your mother and all. Can you guys stop her?"

He chuckled. "We can. Don't underestimate us." The velvety sound of his laugh was like music to my ears.

I felt as if a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. All this trouble with their mother had been stressing me out so much—maybe that's what resulted to my feeling sick.

"I'll leave you to bed," Riley said, stroking my temple with his thumb. "You seem tired."

I nodded. "I am."

"Goodnight."

As he walked out of the room, leaving me to the darkness, I tried my hardest not to call out and ask him to join me. He was suddenly so caring and comforting—nothing like the cold creature he had turned into yesterday.

But I decided against it.

Right before stepping into the hallway, he turned around and said, "Hey, Scarlet?"

I responded a little too hastily. "Yes?"

"About what we said this afternoon, do you have an answer?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "Not yet. I'm not saying no"—I didn't want to—"but I need time to think."

That response seemed to be enough for him. A faint smile curved at the corner of his lips. "That's good to hear. Rest well."

"You too."

He shut the door behind him, drenching the room in a lonely black.

***

Kristie invited me over to her house. She sounded panicked.

"Scarlet, I need to tell you something," she said over the phone.

I nearly died there on the spot. "Is it bad?"

"I want to tell you in person." And then she hung up the call.

I rushed over like a manic horse, my face flushed with anger. Damn that Crawford woman. The twins couldn't stop her after all.

My hair was unkempt by the time I got to Kristie's doorstep. I rang the doorbell five times in the row, not letting the tune end before pressing it again and abusing it with too much force.

If Kristie did get fired and found out it was because of me; I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for a long time. Heck, she might not want to forgive me either. She had been my best friend since college. I couldn't afford to lose her because of Mrs. Crawford's silly temper tantrum.

After taking a minute too long, Kristie opened the door. "Hello!"

I still hadn't caught my breath. "Are you okay?"

She shot me a quizzical look. "What do you mean?" She was beaming like a lighthouse—had I missed something here? "I'm more than okay, Scarlet! You're here for our mini celebration!" She popped the bottle of wine she was holding, and the cork nearly hit me in the face. "Oops, sorry."

"Wait, I thought you were in trouble?" She should have just told me whatever good news she had over the phone. I wanted to strangle her for not doing so. I almost had a heart attack rushing over. Tyrone even had to run a red light because I ordered him to.

She raised a brow. "I never mentioned anything about trouble."

I groaned. "Oh, God. What is it then?"

"It's like magic happened today." She grinned. "The new boss is apparently super awesome. He gave me a promotion. I'm marketing deputy director now. Deputy. Director! Can you believe it? It's like my salary tripled."

"Oh... wow. That sounds awesome." I was happy for her, but confused. Wasn't she supposed to be fired? Not that I wanted her to lose her job or anything, but the story didn't fit.

It must have been the twins.

At that moment, I didn't mind hugging and kissing them, before groveling at their feet. They saved my relationship with Kristie, and to me, that was priceless.

It took a while for the shock to subside and the happiness to seep in, but after that, I landed on cloud nine.

That is, until the painful giddiness that was caused by my reeling head came back to me again.

I covered my mouth with my hand. "Can I use your restroom?" I asked.

"Um, sure."

I pushed my way past her and ran to the toilet. I've been puking way too much lately, and I haven't even been drinking much.

Kristie stood at the doorway as I rinsed my mouth. "Are you okay?"

I rolled my tongue around my mouth. "I'm good." Vomit tasted horrible.

"Was it something you ate?"

"Maybe, but I don't think so."

"This is my fifth time in two days."

She stared at me.

"And my period is late," I continued. I’d been thinking about it ever since I first vomited, but I didn't want to face it. Perhaps I voiced it out to Kristie because I wanted her to knock some sense into me.