Distracting the Billionaire's Son (7 page)

***

When Shannon crept into the cabin before dawn, I’d slept
only a little and what I had captured was troubled and slippery. How many days
had we been here? I couldn’t even keep track anymore. I was surprised when
Shannon tip-toed to the side of my bed and whispered my name.

“You’re awake?” she asked.

“Yeah. Look at you, sneaking home before dawn. Are
congratulations in order?”

I slid over in the already tiny bed and she crawled in next
to me. We were nose to nose on our sides and I could just make her out in the
dim moonlight. She smelled like wet earth and moss. Like her brother’s bed. The
thought cracked something in my chest.

She sighed and nuzzled her nose into my pillow. “He was so
gentle. I could have spent all night with him. Afterwards we walked through the
trees all the way to the ocean. We didn’t want to go back to the cabin in case
you and Cole…”

“Oh, no. No. I didn’t meet him. Not that he isn’t very
pretty, but…anyway. You harlot. Tell me everything.”

She laughed and lowered her voice as if there were a hundred
people listening just outside the windows. “I like sex. I’ve really wasted a
lot of time holding out. He’s so pretty, Jess. He’s got these spaces between
his belly button and thighs that are just so…wow.”

I smiled. I knew exactly the spot she meant. Wow indeed. “Is
this a one-time thing or should I expect you late every night?”

“Every night, I hope. We’re going for a run in the morning
on the beach before breakfast. He runs. Of course he does.”

“Did you tell him you don’t run?”

“No, I didn’t have the heart.” I laughed, she sighed. “Our
babies will be beautiful.”

“Where does he go to school?”

“California, like, the other side of the world from us. I’m
going to run away to L.A. You can come with me. We’ll live wantonly, get jobs
dancing in places with poles. I’ll call you Trixie North and you’ll call me
Stella Lee.”

As sad as I was feeling, as embarrassed and small and
unwanted, this made me smile. I thought maybe I could do anything if Shannon
went with me. “Deal. Who needs college anyway? It’ll be just you and me,
Stella.”

“You and me, Trixie.” After a moment she said, “I’m sorry
you and Cole didn’t work out.”

“Well.” How could I tell her I’d spent the night with her
brother? The brother who seemed to hate every minute of this place? “You know
me. I’ve got more issues than either of us want to deal with in less than two
weeks and it’s not like I can hide from him here when he finds out I won’t let
him touch my breasts.”

She leaned in, touched her forehead to mine. How many
whispered conversations had we had like this in the last two years? If she left
the dorms I didn’t know what I’d do. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,
Jess. You’re beautiful and the first boy who makes you see that will win my
favor forever.”

That sure wouldn’t be Jonah Silver. I wanted very badly to
tell Shannon about him, about everything, but how would she react to that?
Would she make me leave this place? I couldn’t bear it. I did what any
self-respecting coward could. I kept my mouth shut.

Breakfast was a scene of absolute chaos. Everyone over the
drinking age or at least, very close to it, had hangovers. There were twenty
pairs of $400 special order sunglasses, each vying for a seat furthest from the
windows. Someone suggested they move breakfast to the dining room, which caused
Mrs. Silver to have a mild stroke until Jonah ordered Meredith to have all the
curtains pulled. The sheer fabric blocked most of the harshest glares, but most
sunglasses remained in place anyway.

Shannon and Henry were dosing against each other, looking as
sweet as apple pie with her head on his shoulder and his head against her hair.
They both had on their sunglasses and the fresh glow of a morning workout.

I thought I’d avoided Cole until he grabbed me near the
doorway, his fingers not-too-kindly digging into the soft skin inside my elbow.

“Where were you last night? I waited for like a half an hour
freezing my balls off. What the hell, Jessica?”

Maybe it was the sound of my name, but Jonah slammed his
palm on the table with such aggression I thought it would tip and shot to his
feet. Several eyes looked his way but no one was in the mood to question him.
He held my eyes and I shook my head a fraction. It took all my strength to look
away and give Cole my attention. I peeled each of his fingers off me, one at a
time.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. It was embarrassing, being talked
down to like this where any of the people in the room could hear. “I changed my
mind at the last minute. I shouldn’t have stood you up. That was rude.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. Fucking tease.” He shook his head
and walked over to the only seat still available at Shannon and Henry’s table.

I think Shannon might have fallen asleep behind her
sunglasses because she didn’t seem to react. I stood stupidly for a moment, but
none of the cousins seemed to even consider giving a chair to me so I could be
near my friend. At the last minute Eric called my name and I gratefully took a
seat between him and Melissa. I’d met Eric’s friend Nelson who sat across from
me, and Sarah McCallister and her younger sister Lara filled the other two
seats. When I glanced over, Jonah had returned to his seat and was paying close
attention to something Eva McCallister was saying to him.

A pang of jealousy shot through me as I watched him listen
to her with rapt attention. He had never listened to anything I had to say like
that. At most he afforded me clinical curiosity; at worst he downright insulted
me. Why did it matter? What good was he anyway?

What good? My thoughts went immediately to what he’d done to
me last night, how powerful and delicious I’d felt with his face buried between
my thighs. I swallowed, squeezed my legs and didn’t look up again from my
breakfast.

Thankfully, Nelson and Eric together were a riot and kept me
laughing despite the confusion in my stomach. Breakfast was lighter and I opted
for yogurt and fruit and skipped the heavier stuff. I didn’t think I could
stomach it anyway. I noticed Eva ate nothing and drank coffee like it was
water. Jonah ate a full breakfast, speaking sometimes to his mother and
listening when his father spoke at him. I recognized the polite tolerance he
afforded his father. I had that look down to a science.

“You’re at Penn State now, aren’t you Jonah? When will you
be done getting that fancy degree and start making your old man truck loads
money?” I glanced up from my breakfast at the over boisterous voice of Mr.
Silver’s brother, though I couldn’t remember his name. He’d arrived this
morning and missed the outburst from last night.

Jonah got his expression under control behind his water
goblet and when he set it down, the only thing burning were his eyes. No one
noticed but me.

“I just finished my graduate program last week.”

His uncle expressed the same surprise I did when he yelled,
“Well, damn boy! Why didn’t you say something?”

“My father doesn’t like what I chose to study and I won’t be
joining his company, so it seemed rude to brag.” Jonah practiced taking a bite
of his breakfast, looking at his uncle, at his food, and back up, all the while
avoiding eye contact with anyone else. It didn’t matter, his father jumped on
the opportunity.

“International goddamn business and trade. He wants to go to
Japan for a year to work for some company there and come back and start his own
firm. Not only does he want to abandon his family, but he wants to compete
against it. Most goddamn thing I’ve ever heard.” Mr. Silver threw his napkin
into his plate and Mrs. Silver stifled a noise that broke my heart. Eric kept
his head down, Melissa stared oblivious into the ceiling, and Shannon seemed to
still be dosing at her table. I was starting to understand that as long as
their father’s attention was on Jonah, it wasn’t on them. Briefly I forgot my
anger and humiliation from the night before and I felt sorry for him. He would
have hated me for it.

“Ah,” Jonah’s uncle took the longest sip of water I’d ever
seen. When he set it down I bet he was hoping for a refill of whiskey. “Now why
would you want to go and do that, kid?”

“I don’t want him to leave the country, but I’m very proud
of all the work he’s done. He graduated at the top of his class,” Mrs. Silver
said. She took her husband’s hand and squeezed it very, very hard.

“I like what I do and I do it very well. Silver Investments
does not have a very large international interest, so it is not for me.”

“His family isn’t for him. He’s had one foot out the door
his entire life.” Mr. Silver’s voice rose an octave until he was the only one
in the room talking. Eric grasped my wrist and leaned into me, his voice
desperate.

“I will give you one thousand dollars if you change the
subject immediately.”

I stared at him and understood how painful it must be for
him to watch his older brother admonished constantly for choosing his own life.
His eyes shone with it. I held his gaze and I don’t know what came over me when
I yelled out, “Jonah!”

His head snapped in my direction, his pupils large and
responsive, and he stood so suddenly the water glasses rattled. Our connection
was instant, his response overpowering our better senses. Everyone at his table
turned to look at me and Eva McCallister’s eyes narrowed. Jonah calmed quickly,
sat down, adjusted his water glass, and cleared his throat.

But I thought I saw relief, too, now that he could avoid his
father patronizing him in front of his family. “What? What do you need?”

“I…” My mind went blank. I thought of his mouth, his hands,
his bedroom in the dark, sand between my toes, nothing at all I could say out
loud. “Eric said you have a boat. I was wondering if you’d take me.” A look of
horror came across Jonah’s face. I rushed on like a lunatic. “In the boat. Out.
For a boat ride.”

Inside I prayed for a swift and merciful death.

Everyone in the room stared. Jonah wiped his face clean of
emotion. He looked at Eric and then across the room at nothing in particular.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“No! Why not? Oh please Jonah, she’s never been before! I
promised she’d get to try everything while she was here! Take her Jonah,
please?” Shannon was awake with her glasses perched on top of her head. She
turned in her chair and regarded her brother eagerly. “Just a short one?”

Jonah shifted in his chair, took another immediate drink of
water. Eva sighed a little. “I would love to go out on one of the boats.”

I would not love to go out on one of the boats at all. I
wanted to stay with Shannon and I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be
less than alone with Jonah and Eva McCallister out far enough that I couldn’t
swim back if they started making out in front of me.

“Alright,” he said with a sigh. “I concede.”

***

Eric, Nelson, and Cole rounded up the rest of the party,
with Henry staying behind with Shannon who was afraid of the open water. Eric assisted
me into big fast looking blue boat docked near the end and helped me get
strapped into my life jacket. I snuck looks at Jonah as he prepped the boat and
loaded its gear. He snuck looks back, but I couldn’t decipher them.

Despite everything, I was kind of excited. It was true, I’d never
been on a boat before. I had been to the ocean. Shannon and I were only a few
hours from it at school and she loved the beach.

I wanted to taste the salty air and feel it rushing through my
hair the way it did in movies. Eric suggested a spot at the front, and as soon
as Eva and her long tan legs spread out on the back benches, I listened to his
advice.

Jonah took the wheel and turned her on. She purred quietly
as he backed her out of her spot and steered her out into the open water. It
was a nice day, but clouds cutting the sky threatened to end our happy trip
early anyway. Once we’d gotten far enough from the docks, Jonah hit the
throttle and the boat leapt forward as if she was born to only go
fast
.

I grabbed onto the railing and leaned out to watch the waves
cut before us. It was exhilarating! We zipped through the endless blue and boy
were we fast. I very quickly fell in love with the cut and bounce and how
controlled but almost wild Jonah handled her. I wanted to reach out and skim my
fingers across the foamy water, but I didn’t dare.

Once we’d gotten far enough out, Jonah slowed us down and
killed the engine so that we were set adrift, riding the current gently rather
than fighting it to get out this far. With the roar of the wind and engine
gone, I could hear laughter from the back of the boat and wanted to be near
Nelson and Eric and whatever joke they were telling. When I stood, I
immediately wobbled and fell back into the seats.

“Careful,” Jonah said, appearing and taking my arm and
easing me back to the leather seat. I was acutely aware of my windblown hair
and flushed, cold cheeks. He dropped into the leather beside me with a sigh and
stretched out, taking up most of the room in our little area of the boat.

He did not have his life jacket on anymore, so I thought it
might be ok to take mine off too. It was heavy and tight and made me sweaty
underneath. The clasps gave me trouble.

“Let me.” Jonah sat up, brushed my hands away like they were
annoyances and nothing more. He carefully unhooked me from my jacket and slid
it from my shoulders.

His hand fell to my knee and his thumb found a tiny scar
there, one of many smaller ones I couldn’t hide from the world. He touched it
gently, absently. Then, remembering, he took my wrist and turned my arm over to
inspect the soft skin at the inside of my elbow. Tiny blue bruises blushed the
skin where Cole had grabbed me. “I should have broken his fingers” he murmured,
more to himself I think, than to me.