Billionaire Brothers 2 : Love Has A Name (56 page)

“Don’t be looking at Axia for approval, Tish!” Lovello barked, as he swerved around a corner. “Listen to
me
, because I’m the one you’ll be reporting to. You’re now the manager of PSFC. If you think you need an assistant, then get one. For the next couple of months, you won’t be reporting anything to Axia about the gym. You report to
me
, okay? All problems, financially, mechanically or otherwise come to me. Understand?”

When Tish merely stared at him, dumbfounded, Lovello turned his head to cripple her with his glower. “
Understand
, Tish?”

“Y-yes,” she stammered.

“Yes what?”

“Um, yes I understand. I’m now the m-manager and I report to you.”

She avoided my eyes, wringing her fingers in her lap, uneasiness radiating off her.

“Are you
afraid
of this punk, Tish?” I asked in disbelief. “You don’t have to take his shit, you know. If he manhandles you like that again, you call the cops so they can teach his ass —”

“Shut the hell up, Axia,” Lovello hissed, as he pulled up to the curb of PSFC.

“Don’t you dare tell me to shut up, you arrogant, domineering —”

“
Shut. Up. Axia
!” he bellowed, making me jump. That shut me up. “I don’t even want to hear you
breathe
right now.”

Tish hurriedly clambered from the car and scurried off into the gym. Lovello blew a steaming breath and gassed off down the street. An angry vein bulged prominently on his temple. He was pissed. Crazy, crazy pissed. Did he hate me even more now? He had never before been this overseeing or dictatorial. And it was somewhat frightening. But if his rage was induced by hate for me and love for his child, then that would be saddening. I wanted him to be in love with
me
.

With the stretching silence between us, I became aware that music was playing in the car. The yelling and tension seemed to have drowned out the sound earlier. But now the words were floating around the confinements of the car and I recognized it as Chris Brown’s
All Back,
a song that I’d grown to love over the past few weeks. Ever since Nicole had told me that Lovello only listened to that particular song, I’d searched it up on YouTube and, just like that, it’d become one of my favorites.

The familiar words made me relax a bit. I sat back and tilted my head against the window, watching the cars that flew by and singing along to the words of the song. Clearly not liking that I was singing his song or maybe the feelings it might have evoked, Lovello furiously punched a button and switched it to another song called
Deuces
by the same singer.

Only halfway through, and the song began to rile me with all its harsh and insensitive words. I leaned forward and tried to switch it, but it only kept repeating instead. So I just punched the ‘pause’ button to shut the damn thing up, then huffed back in my seat.

Hearing a stifled sound from Lovello, I turned to glower at him and found that he was biting down on his lower lip, suppressing a laugh.

Asshole.

Snatching my cellphone from my handbag, I dialed Trudy, but it only rang out. That was all I needed to know that she’s the one who told him. Trudy was wont to ignore my calls whenever she knew she’d done me wrong.

I navigated to Blackberry Messenger and sent her a message.

Axia: How can you call yourself a friend, when you can’t even keep a secret?

Trudy: I’m truly sorry, Axia. He was very scary. I didn’t just go to him and tell him. He already knew.

Axia: What the hell’s that supposed to mean? How could he possibly know? I found out less than twenty-four hours ago.

Trudy: Idk. He summoned me up to his office the minute I got to work. And when I went, all he said was, “confirm it”. I was gonna lie, but he threatened that if I lied to him, he’d drop my project. What was I to do?

Trudy: Be a goddamn FRIEND!! That’s what you should’ve done.

Trudy didn’t reply, which meant she was either angry at my selfishness or ashamed of her weakness. Lovello careened the car into his neighborhood, then punched in the pass code when he revved up to his residence, and drove down the cobblestoned driveway to his humongous home. Oh, how long it had been since I’d been to this place. For some strange reason, I felt like I was at home. As if this was where I belonged.

Lovello parked at the front of the house and hopped out of the car, then stood waiting for me to get out, too. What did he expect? That he could just drag me off a doctor’s bed, bark off my head, bring me to his home and all would be well? That I’d comply with his every command? That I’d carry the child because
he
said so? How’s he even so sure that the child is his anyway? Better yet, how did he know I was pregnant? Tish and Trudy both denied being firsthand at relaying such information. No one else knew.

“Get out of the car, Axia,” he ordered.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “No. You
won’t
tell me what to do.”

Frustrated, he ran his palm over his face. “Believe me, I don’t want to
tell
you what to do either. But I really don’t want to risk harming my baby by manhandling you. So just be a good little girl and get out of the car.”

“How did you know?” I inquired.

“Don’t worry about that. C’mon. Out of the car.”

“No. Not until you tell me how you knew.”

Lovello slammed his door and marched around to the passenger side, rending the door open. “Do you really want me to toss you over my shoulder again, Axia? What, you only respond to rough treatment?”

Indolently, I picked at my fingernails like a bratty teenager, muttering, “Do what you will, Nelson. I’m not the one who wants the child. You’ll be doing me a favor by inducing a miscarriage.”

Lovello blinked at me, a thin shade of vulnerability veiling him. Hurt flashed refulgently in his eyes. He was showing me everything. He wanted me to want the child as much as he did. He wanted me to be ecstatic and rhapsodic like most new mothers are.

This is not a fairy tale, Pretty Boy. And I’m no golden-haired heroine. I’m a contemporary bitch, with a tough and contemporary kind of love. You should’ve thought about it before you got engaged in this love story. You don’t always get what you want. Deal with it.

“Nicole told me,” he said.

What? How could Nicole have known that? “I don’t understand. How could she possibly know that?”

“A few weeks ago when I was in Dubai, she phoned me and told me she paid you a visit, and that you were puking all over the place. She said she thought — no, that she
knew
you were pregnant.” Lovello shrugged. “But she also told me you were sleeping with Trev, so I didn’t care much for her words.”

That miscreant bitch. “So what made you believe?”

Lovello heaved a sigh, obviously petulant that he had to be explaining shit to me. “When I saw you in L.A. you were abnormally pale and ill-looking. I mean, you were
sleeping
in a public place. A blind man could’ve been in your presence and tell that something was wrong, Axia. So I began calling your father to check up on you, thinking he might know and would hopefully confirm it. But he kept saying you were okay. My next prey was Trudy. I watched her closely. Any sketchy move, and I was on to her. Yesterday when she told me you fainted, I just
knew
. What I didn’t know was that you’d want to abort my … my child.”

Despite being apart for shy two months, the man was so sure that the baby was his. “It’s not
your
child. It’s … Trev’s,” I lied.

Lovello’s slate-grays turned glacial, all vulnerability gone. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he glanced around his yard. A fountain was right next to where he parked, springing water and creating that soothing waterfall sound. Mixtures of various birds’ chirps and tweets echoed around us, while the leaves of the shedding trees and plants whistled as the air hissed through them. It was very early in the morning, and chilly, despite the glaring sun in the sky. Such a beautiful morning with such horrendous acts taking place. Humans were destructive creatures. Without us, the earth would be one constant globe of beauty. Without humans ruining Mother Nature, she’d be ruling all. Responsible for all the earth’s beauty. To hell with us unappreciative, corruptive humans.

Lovello suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the car. “Nice try, Axia. Trev wouldn’t sleep with you. He likes you too much.” Picking up my handbag, he added, “And even if it was Trev’s, it’s still a
Nelson
.”

He kicked the car door shut and hauled me up the steps to his house, dragging me through the double doors. We were instantly greeted by Rosa in the foyer. “Good day, Mr. Nelson. Miss Blacksille.”

Thrusting my handbag to her, Lovello ordered, “Rosa, prepare the quarter opposite yours and rehire Donna. Assign her to Miss Blacksille.”

“Okay. Donna to stay in second quarter like me, and Miss Blacksille to live here?” Rosa asked in her heavy Spanish accent.

“Yes. And…” He trailed off as he turned to me, yanked my hand to pull me up to him, then began sweeping his thumbs across my face, searching for God knows what. Right then, my senses grew alert and I almost moaned. I
hated
that I loved his touch so much. “Prepare some chicken soup for Miss Blacksille. Take it up to our room.”

Our
room?

“Okay,” Rosa nodded. “Mr. Lenton present, sir. I give him key for guest house like you said.”

“Good. Send him to my study in thirty.”

Rosa nodded again and rolled off, and Lovello continued on, dragging me like a rag doll up the stairs.

“Who’s Mr. Lenton?” I asked.

He didn’t look at me when he said, “The security that’s going to make sure you never leave this house. At least not until you’re six months in.”

“You can’t do that!” I protested, as he pulled me down the hall.

“Oh, but I can, Miss Blacksille,” he drawled. “Medieval-style, baby. You don’t get to see the light of day until I’m positive that baby is safe.”

“You can’t treat me like that! You don’t own me!”

Lovello stopped his long strides and released his hold on me. Turning to face me, he tilted his head to the side. “I don’t?”

“No. You don’t.”

He took a step toward me, and I took one step back. Another step toward me, then I took another step back. This repeated until I was backed up against the wall, and there was nowhere else for me to go as he closed in on me. With one final step, he closed the gap, no air passing between us. I momentarily stopped breathing, my heart palpitating in my chest, goose bumps rising on my skin, my tongue drying and sticking to the roof of my mouth.

He pressed his palms flat against the wall, caging me. And that was it. His nearness, his all-masculine scent, his hot, minty breath on my face, all sent excited arousals shooting to my core, soaking my panties. Lovello’s perfectly sculpted lips parted as he lowered his head and gently brushed them against mine. Not kissing me, but teasing me. I wanted to taste his tongue, oh how I wanted to taste his tongue.

Back and forth, he only brushed his lips against mine, never giving me his tongue. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I lifted my hands to wrap them around his neck and pull him down to me. But with agile movements, he grabbed my wrists and stopped me, tutting. “None of that, lady.”

Bringing my hands above my head, he manacled them with one hand, then used his free hand to undo the button and zipper of my jeans. He dipped his hand inside my panties and slid his fingers through my slick, wet folds. The feel of his fingers on me again for the first time in almost two months was so euphoric that it almost brought me to tears.

“Your mouth says one thing, but your body says something completely different,” he whispered against my ear. He withdrew his hand from my panties and popped two of his arousal-covered fingers in his mouth, smiling loutishly around them. “Whenever you become confused about who owns you, Axia, always remember the person who makes you both wet and dry at the same time.” He tapped two fingers against my mouth. “
Dry
up here…” Then lowered his hand and tapped two his fingers over my throbbing core. “ … And
wet
down here.”

With a smug grin, he pushed away from the wall, grabbed my hand and continued down the hall to his room. The man got me all aroused just to leave me hanging? It felt like forever since I’d been touched like that.

Opening the door to his majestic bedroom that I’d missed so much, he led me in and sat me down on the bed, then stood before me with his arms folded across his chest. “After getting something warm in your stomach, I want you to get some sleep. Your eyes are bloodshot and you are far too pale.”