Indebted: Part Three (Series Finale): The Virgin & The Bad-Boy Billionaire (A BWWM Billionaire Romance) (5 page)

“Alright, how about you stand over by the bench under the tree there, Kendra? I just want to get a couple of shots while the lighting is still good.” Issaiah directs me, pointing at the massive weeping willow, perfectly manicured to hang over the bench like a humble monk hanging his head in prayer.

I know that my brother is proud of me, but all the photos are getting a bit tiring. He’s had me posing near every landmark on campus for an hour now. I’d be embarrassed if every other family of grad students weren’t doing the exact same thing.

“Ok, but this is the last set,” I wait for the cute couple posing with frozen kisses to slide out of the way.

They look relieved to have a reason to stop obliging the man behind the camera ordering them around like they’re on a magazine cover shoot. “Ok, great! That’s good. Now give me a big smile. No, bigger smile Hallie. Ok, great! But now try to think of something that makes you super happy, that way your eyes will sparkle. Now Jake, put your arm around Hallie, perfect…”

Luckily, Issaiah isn’t quite that controlling. After a few flashes of the camera, I’m bored with posing and pull Brianna into the shot with me. Standing together with fake smiles, we pose for a photo that will capture this moment in time until it becomes our only memories of it.

“Issaiah, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to get going,” my brother’s flash happy camera clicking grinds to a halt. “We have to get sorted out for the ceremony in fifteen minutes. You guys should all probably get seated anyway,” I tell my three brother’s and their wives. Fortunately, none of them brought their children. Not that they aren’t adorable, but sitting quietly through a three-hour ceremony isn’t what toddlers and newborns are known for. Truth be told, I’m not looking forward to sitting through it, and I’m the one crossing the stage.

You’d think that with the last name Cole, I would be one of the first to have my diploma clutched in my sweaty palm. Yet, after forty minutes, I’m just now standing with the rest of my row.

Scanning the crowd, I search row by row for my family now that I don’t have a hundred square-top hats blocking my view. A wall of unfamiliar faces stare back from the crowd. It’s a mishmash of expressions facing me, some look proud, others bored, more than a few are even sleeping. Finally, I spot my family off to the side. Winnie is waving to me enthusiastically while Issaiah looks like he’s trying to figure out how to put a lens on his camera that will fold the distance between us.

The long line in front of me slowly starts to shrink as my mind wanders back to Matthew.
I wish he were here.
I sigh, self-pity seeping through me.
You have no one to blame but yourself for that!
I try to shake the fleeting thoughts from my mind.
Today is about graduation, not Matthew Blackwell. Stay in the present.
Not wallow about my mistakes in the recent past or worry about the future.

Gazing back over the crowd, I jump, squinting my eyes to get a better look. I can’t be sure from this distance, but I’m almost certain that I see Matthew sitting toward the rear of the seating area. My eyes won’t focus clear enough to make out the details of his face.

“…I said, Kendra Cole!” the Dean of business looks agitated as the words soak into my brain.

“Oh, shit,” I whisper. Sweeping across the stage, I reach the podium where he waits with my diploma in hand. A quick handshake and a smile blur together in a second, then it’s all over. The culmination of two years of hard work scrawled across a single sheet of paper. Floating to the other side of the stage, I join my peers and wait for the Dean to make his way through the endless list of names.

As soon as I’m allowed to leave the formality of the graduation ceremony behind, I race down the stairs of the stage and start twisting through the crowd. Brianna and my family are making their way over to me, but I hurry past them. My only focus right now is to reach Matthew before he disappears into the mob.

Craning my neck does no good, I just can’t see over all these small groups of people congregating all over the lawn. Hopping up onto an empty folding chair, I twist and turn like a balloon figure on a car sales lot, trying to track him down amongst the hundred other dark-haired men in suits.

There he is!
I spot him near the back seats. Jumping back down to the grass, I push through the remaining crowd like a linebacker at the Super Bowl. I’m getting closer, I can see him now that the crowd is starting to space out farther. My years of track and field are coming in handy as I sprint toward him. Although, I still don’t have much experience running in a billowing gown. “Matthew! Wait up!” Grabbing him by the arm, he swirls around surprised and confused. Not as surprised as I am to see that it isn’t Matthew’s arm that I’m clinging onto at all, but a stern looking stranger.

Yanking his arm back from my grasp, he pulls his suit jacket down firmly. “Excuse me! Do I know you?” His eyes narrow into thin slits as I shift my weight from foot to foot, locked under his irritated stare.

“No, you don’t. I’m sorry.” I mumble to the golf course cut grass beneath our feet. “I thought you were someone else.” Defeated, I turn away, slowly making my way back to my family.

Brianna stumbles through the group of stragglers around me, out of breath. “Kendra,” she breathes like she just crossed the finish line at an Iron Man, “what are you doing?” Gasping and puffing, she clings onto my arm, and I’m not entirely certain that she isn’t about to faint. Even though I know this isn’t the time to give her yet another lecture on smoking, in a lot of ways, it feels appropriate. Managing to steady her breathing, she looks me in the eyes, “where are you going? Are you ok?”

I bite my trembling lip.
No. I’m not ok.
“I thought I saw Matthew,” my voice cracks. “It looked so much like him, I just… I fucked it all up! You were right, I just couldn’t let myself be happy and now I’m going to spend, god knows how long, being miserable. And I did it to myself!”

“No, don’t say that.” Brianna holds me in her arms like a child who’s afraid of the dark. “You can fix this, I know you can.”

“No, I don’t think so. There’s only so much that people can take, you know? I’ve been such a brat to Matthew, I can’t blame him for not wanting anything to do with me.” Hot tears spill over the corners of my eyes and trail slowly down over my cheeks. I ignore the nosy stares we’re getting from people around us. I don’t care about anything right now. It all feels so empty.

“Brianna holds my hand, softly rubbing her hand over the backs of my fingers. “Kendra, you can’t just give up because it’s hard! That’s not you.”

“This isn’t like school, though. It’s different! What am I supposed to do? I called him two days ago, and he never answered me!” My voice is overshadowed by a sob that I can’t hold back anymore. “It’s clear he just doesn’t want to deal with me anymore. What can I do? It’s not like I can just show up at his place or the office, you know?”

“No, you don’t have to.”

“I just need to let it go. People fuck up all the time; I’ll get over it.”

“No, just listen a sec…”

“It’s ok. I’m going to be ok. I’m strong and like you said before, I’ve got a lot going for me in my life. I can move on, I know I can…”

“Kendra! Listen to me!” Brianna shakes my shoulders and my gown flaps like a plastic bag in a windstorm. “You don’t have to stalk him and you don’t have to give up. Look,” she pulls her phone out of her sleek purse, pulling up a screen. “He’s going to be here,” she thrusts the cell in my face so close that I can’t even make out the words on the screen. Before I have a chance to pull it back more than an inch and a half from my nose, Brianna continues, “he’s hosting the Annual Zervion MADD Arts silent auction tomorrow at the
Guggenheim Gallery
. It’s open to the public, Kendra. We’ll go, you two can talk, this is all going to work out. I promise.”

The last thing I want to do is creep Matthew out. Dueling images flash through my mind, in one I run into his arms and he kisses me passionately. In the other he calls security and I get dragged out of there in front of everyone. “Isn’t it weird for me to just show up like that?”

“Any weirder than his appearing at the diner? If anyone understands big gestures, it’s gonna be him. Come on, you can’t just let him slip away and you know it.”

She’s right, again.
Damn, I’ve been saying that a lot lately.
“You’ll come with me?”

Her eyes glint as a smile spreads over her face, “of course!”

“Ok, let’s do it.” There’s more to lose by not going than by trying.

“Oh, I’m so happy you said that!” she grabs my arm and hugs in against her body in an awkward embrace. “Ok, now first thing’s first. Let’s go find your family and head out for supper. You and I will figure this all out tonight.”

Following Brianna back through the sparse crowd, I let her lead the way. I should probably get used to it, she’s a woman on a mission, and I have a feeling she won’t give up until it’s completed.

Chapter Four

When Brianna opens her wardrobe closet, I’m shocked to see how many clothes have gone missing. “What happened to all your stuff?” I start sweeping her hangers to the side, looking at the severely trimmed down selection. The clothes that remain are so different that what I’ve grown used to seeing Brianna in. Plain blouses, knee-length skirts, dresses made from other fabrics than just spandex.

“I donated a bunch of it, some of it I just trashed,” she shrugs. Is this the same girl who has insisted on modeling every one of her new leather miniskirts or sequin covered halter tops over the past few years? “Sometimes you just need a fresh start, you know?”

“That’s great, I’m just surprised. I thought you loved those clothes.”

“When I was younger I did. But I’m changing too. I can’t dress like a club rat forever. I’ve got bigger plans for my future than that.”

“Since when?” I watch her eyebrows knit together as she cocks her head at me.
That didn’t come out right.
“I mean, I’m so happy to hear that, I really am. I’ve just never heard you talk about any of this stuff before.”