Billionaire Romance: Club Billionaire (The Complete Series) (11 page)

“
You're shaking.” He lifts my hand up, squeezes my
fingers tight. “Tell me what he did.”

His words turn deeper, darker. His eyes narrow, his
breathing becomes louder, shorter.

“
Nothing,” I repeat, Brad's threats echoing in my
head.

If you tell anyone about this...if you mention it to
anyone...if you even think about going to the police...I'll make your
life a living hell

I turn from Kyle's gaze, suddenly finding it impossible
to make eye contact. It only serves to strengthen his belief that I'm
lying.

“
Belle, please, you can tell me. If you don't, I'll
have to ask him.”

Now I look at him, my eyes widening. “No, don't, you
can't do that!”

“
Then tell me what he did.”

A shudder runs through me, my entire body engulfed by a
sudden cold. I can feel him again, smell him, hear his grunts.

Tears start to trickle from my eyes. Tears of shame. I
feel dirty, like my presence is sullying Kyle, the last person I'd
want to drag into my seedy little world. But he's here. He cares.
That thought alone stands like a beacon amid the horrors in my head.
A shining light within the darkness.

Kyle hugs me tight, a hug of comfort and reassurance to
tell me everything will be OK. It's the tenderest moment we've
shared, and somehow I feel closer to him than anyone in the world. As
if Brad's crimes have brought us closer together.

Kyle asks me again, asks me to tell him what happened. I
feel the answer dangling on the tip of my tongue, desperate to fall
but unable to take the plunge. In the end, it doesn't have to. Kyle
says it for me.

“
He forced himself on you, didn't he.”

He pulls away, inspects my reaction. My expression grows
in horror and shame, my head dipping in the lightest nod.

I look down, as a silence dawns, the room suddenly heavy
and weighed down by some invisible force. When I raise my eyes, I see
Kyle's face on fire. His dark eyes burn with the blazes of hell, his
jaw as stoney and hard as I've ever seen it.

I put my hand to his cheek, my touch soothing him a
little.

“
Promise me you won't say anything,” I say.

He looks at me as if I'm mad, almost angry that I never
reported it. “I can't. Belle, the man raped you...”

“
Please!” I say. “I don't want
anyone
to
know...not the police, not Alice, not anyone. Promise me Kyle.”

He takes a moment, staring at me in slight disbelief. I
see the cogs turning in his mind, battling for an answer, for a way
out of this. But I know there isn't one. The only thing to do is to
put it to the back of my mind, and for him to do the same. To lock it
away and move on.

There is no other path.

Eventually, Kyle nods, and hugs me again. “Don't
worry, Belle. I won't mention this to anyone.”

The iciness of his voice chills me. And I know that this
isn't over.

Chapter Five

It's two weeks since the masquerade ball that I finally
return to Club Billionaire. I realized soon after talking to Kyle
that to move on I'd have to face my demons. To stand up and be
defiant. If I didn't, I'd end up a recluse, hiding away in my
bedroom, too scared to come out and live my life.

That isn't the girl I am.

That isn't the girl I want to be.

And I've been through enough shit in my life to know how
to move on when the going gets tough. To stick it out and battle
back. I refuse to let a fucking brat like Brad ruin the good thing I
had going on at the club. So I decide to face him, put on my own mask
and show him that he means less than nothing to me. That for all his
apparent wealth and power, he's just a scared little boy dying for
attention.

When I arrive at the club, I take a deep breath, step
into the elevator, and get myself mentally prepared. I have no idea
if Brad will be there or not, and I still don't know whether I want
him to be.

Is it better to face him now, get it out of the way? Or
perhaps ease myself back in without him being around? Either way, I
have no control over it, so prepare for both. When the elevator door
pings open, and I arrive at the gallery, I see that Brad is nowhere
to be found.

Alice, however, is waiting at the bottom of the stairs
for me with a wide smile on her face. I had, of course, told her I
was feeling better and that I'd be back working that evening. To her
credit, she doesn't probe any further about what was really wrong,
and seems genuinely pleased to have me back. A quick hug in the bar
room, away from the billionaires, convinces me of that.

Some of the other clients also appear to have noticed my
absence. I get some heartening well-wishes from them as they tell me
they're happy to have me back, and that they're glad I'm feeling
better.

Getting such kind words from these men has more of an
effect on me than I'd expect. So much so that I find myself crying in
the bar room on more than one occasion in the first hour. These
tears, however, are more of happiness than sadness, joy that I've had
an impact, however small, on these rich and powerful men's lives. In
a profession as unrewarding as waitressing, it's nice to know I've
been missed and my life does have some meaning.

It's Kyle, however, who I want to miss me the most. His
visit to my apartment a few days before proved to me that he cares
about me, at least to some level, and sees me as more than just a
plaything to satisfy his sexual desires.

Yet tonight, I don't see him, his sleek suit absent, his
deep voice unheard among the light din.

What does become clear to me, however, is that the mood
in the club seems sombre. There's a heaviness hanging in the air, a
thick atmosphere that tells me something's wrong. Conversations seem
muted, the energy mournful. And only when I get a chance to talk with
Alice properly do I understand why.

“
Oh, didn't you hear?” she asks.

I shake my head, a feeling of dread settling inside me.

“
It's Brad...”

My chest tightens like a taught rope.
Oh shit...

“
He's in hospital, half dead apparently...”

“
When? What happened?” I ask, breathlessly.

“
No one knows. He was found around a street corner.
Hit and run possibly. The police are looking into it.”

“
Right...”

“
I'm not one to wish something like that on anyone,
but if someone was going to get it, it was him. You know as much as
anyone, Belle. He was a nasty piece of work...”

“
Was
? You're talking like he's dead already!”

“
Well, you never know if he'll make it or not.”

“
He might die?!”

Alice shrugs. “I don't know, Belle. But yeah, that's
why it's a bit mellow here tonight. No one wants to see something
like that happen to another member.”

Yeah, I can think of one member who might...

As Alice returns to work, I can only imagine that this
is too much of a coincidence. That only a couple of days after Kyle
finds out about what Brad did to me, he's in hospital fighting for
his life.

Did Kyle really do this? Did he almost kill the man
because of what he did?

The thought infests my mind for the next hour, my
emotions tugged this way and that. I find it hard to know how to
feel. My initial reaction at discovering Brad's plight was mixed. Not
how I'd expect. Half happiness that he'd got what he deserved, half
concern that it might be related to me, to Kyle, and that somehow
everything is going to come to light now.

Then he arrives.

I watch him as he walks down the steps, moving so
languidly, as he's prone to do. There seems to be no change in his
demeanor, nothing to suspect that today is anything more than a
regular day for him. He smiles, greets the various members of the
club who are present, and continues like nothing's happened.

Maybe he isn't involved
, I think to myself.
Maybe
he doesn't even know...

Then he comes to me, jaw tight, eyes slightly more
intense than usual. Up close, I do see a change.

“
Belle, you're back,” he says.

“
As you suggested,” I return.

“
It's good to see you.” His hand stretches the short
gap between us and lightly brushes against mine. It's subtle enough
for no one to see.

I feel the usual electricity, although it's somehow
dulled this time. There's too much weighing on my mind for any true
sparks to fly.

“
Can we talk?” I ask. “In private?”

His eyes don't change. “Of course. Stock room, five
minutes.”

He turns and leaves me, never one to be seen spending
too much time alone with me down here. If nothing else, that always
serves to remind me of my place.

Five minutes later, and I'm in the stock room, awaiting
his arrival. As expected, he arrives almost to the designated second,
sliding through the door and shutting it carefully behind him.

He moves forward, his billionaire cloak falling off him.
His mask sliding, showing him only as a man. He smiles lightly, and
hugs me tight but tenderly. I grip back, feel his strong body beneath
this shirt, his pounding heart behind his chest.

When he releases me, I almost consider not asking him,
scared of what I'll hear. But my curiosity needs to be satisfied, and
the question, difficult as it might be, needs to be asked.

“
Did you do it?” It's all I say, without elaborating
on what.

Kyle's face hardens, that fire behind his eyes beginning
to flicker once more.

“
Yes,” he says. He doesn't need to ask me what. We
both know what we're talking about here.

“
But why Kyle! I told you I just wanted to move on.”

“
And now you can, without him here. Brad got what he
deserved, Belle. I wasn't going to let him get away with it.”

His fists clench, his knuckles turning white. “I'd do
it all over again, and again...” His voice turns dark, his mind
clouded by anger and hate. “If it means keeping you safe, Belle.
I'd have killed him for what he did to you.”

I'm dumbstruck, not knowing what to think, what to say.
I don't condone violence, not for the sake of it. But this is
different. Kyle did it all to protect me...because he cares about me.
His words are those of a devoted man, putting everything on the line
for the woman he loves.

But not me...he can't love me...

He moves in, takes my hands in his. They're warm, and I
notice small cuts around his knuckles and fingers. The sight makes me
want to pull my hands away, but I don't. I can't. Not from
him...never from him.

“
I'd do anything to protect you, Belle. Brad will
survive. I never intended to kill him. I just wanted him to suffer as
you had. You won't ever have to see him again.”

He kisses me on the forehead, his lips soft and warm.
But no more. He doesn't drop his lips to mine, doesn't run his hands
over my body as he usually would. He knows, right now, sex is the
last thing on my mind.

But he's wrong.

Chapter Six

Sometimes it's good to replace bad memories with good
ones. To lose yourself to what you loved before in the hope that it
will help numb the torture in your mind.

As with everything in my life, I refuse to let Brad take
away my lust for Kyle too. Now, that lust has been well and truly
joined by something more. Something deeper, more meaningful.

He's told me how he'd do anything to protect me, and
that alone has sent my heart soaring. My desire for him, far from
being diminished, has increased. My need to keep him close, my
protector, my savior, my lover...

So when he tenderly kisses my forehead, I make sure I
drag his face down so that his lips roll over mine. I make sure that
his hands busily explore me as they have so many times now. I do it
to test myself, to find out the true extent of Brad's crimes. To
discover whether he's robbed me of my sexual desire, my need to feel
Kyle inside me.

“
Are you sure you want to...” Kyle asks, the
gentleman inside him understanding how I must be feeling.

I don't answer with words, but actions. With my
guidance, I slide his fingers beneath my skirt, coax him into it as
he massages my clit and slips his fingers inside me. It's a test, and
I'm passing it, my pussy growing moist, my body beginning to tremble.
Not from fear, or from lingering memories of Brad's attack, but from
unadulterated longing, an appetite for Kyle that nothing can quench.

Kyle is gentle, more so than usual. He takes it slow,
undressing me, making love to me like it's my first time. In some
ways it is. My first time since the attack, my body primed to reject
such advances, to close down and grow fearful at the touch of a man.

But it doesn't. I open up to him more than ever. I enjoy
his flesh as he does mine, feeling comforted when he penetrates me.
Feeling altogether happy, delirious even, that I'm able to find joy
in this. Knowing that Kyle, and only Kyle, knows how to push my
buttons just right. That he's sensitive enough himself to understand
the thoughts that must be running through my head. To lead me through
it all and return me to my original state.