The Billionaire's Longshot: Betting on You Series: Book Three (16 page)

“What the hell did you do to her?” Elaine asked harshly.

“What you may have heard isn’t the entire story.”

“You’re saying she’s lying?”

Ross shook his head.

Elaine threw her arms up in frustration. “She trusted you.
We
trusted you.” Walking back over to Jill and Lizette, she said, “Lizette, come on, let’s get this poor girl home.”

“I’m okay, honest.” Jill sniffed.

“You will be, but for now, let us take care of you,” Lizette said.

They were right. She would be okay, but tonight she wasn’t. She was a wreck, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed her friends.

On the way out the door she heard Elaine say to Trent, “We’ll talk when I get home.”

“What the fuck
did you do?” Trent asked angrily.

Ross knew it didn’t sound good, but it wasn’t exactly as they overheard. Yet it wasn’t that far from the truth either. “It’s not what you think.”

“Then what is it? She was pretty upset,” Jon added.

He knew how it sounded. But what they didn’t know is he hadn’t forced her into anything.
Well, maybe an extended stay.
“I’ve handled it poorly. We need to work through some things.”

“You think?” Drew asked. “Ross you’re the levelheaded one. You don’t do this shit.”

And so I used to believe, too.
“We’ll work things out.”

Jon asked, “Did you kidnap her?”

“Not really.”

“That’s not a no, Ross,” he said.

“It’s not like I grabbed her, threw her over my shoulder, and held her captive,” Ross said in an attempt to defend himself.

“Then what is it like?” Trent asked. He sounded angry, something rare for Trent except for business dealings.

“We were on my boat, and I may have told her I would bring her back when I was ready.” Even saying it now sounded bad.
Stupid.

“That’s so much better,” Drew said sarcastically. “You’re lucky you’re not going to jail.”

“It’s not that bad. Trust me, we were enjoying ourselves.”
For the most part.

Jon added, “Jill seems to believe differently.”

“That’s because I may have said a few insensitive things.”
And done some too.

“I would love to hear them,” Drew replied.

Ross shot him a warning look. He didn’t find this amusing at all and, from the look on Trent’s face, he didn’t either. He may have screwed things up with Jill, but he didn’t say or do anything to Elaine.
So what is his issue?

“Ross, you better fix this shit because it’s not going to be bad for just you. In case you hadn’t noticed the look on Elaine’s face, what you did and do from here, is overflowing onto us.” Trent ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t need any help putting myself in the doghouse.”

Drew laughed. “Good luck, Trent. With Elaine pregnant, you are in more trouble than Ross is.”

Trent shook his head. “You aren’t joking. Ross, Jill is an incredibly bubbly, thoughtful, hard-working woman. She’s also a good friend to both Elaine and Lizette. Whatever you aren’t telling us . . . well, you fucked up, man. Even I have no clue what you should say or do to apologize, but you’d better fix this before all our lives become as screwed up as yours.” Trent sat on the couch and leaned back. “This is going to be a long night.”

They were right, though. This was bigger than the two of them now. He should have taken her home, and they could have settled it on the way.
Probably not.
“I have to go,” Ross said, and made his way to the door.

“To where?” Jon inquired.

He needed to see her, make sure she was okay. When they had spoken the last time he thought the air was cleared. But apparently not. “I’m going to Jill’s.”

“Whoa, not tonight, buddy. If you go there, you’re not only going to have to face her, you’ll have to get through Lizette and Elaine, and that won’t be pretty,” Jon explained.

I’ve already let too much time pass, and look where it’s gotten me.

Trent checked his phone. “This is bad.” He looked at Jon and said, “Elaine texted me. She’s spending the night with Jill.”

Jon walked to the table and picked up his phone. “Lizette said everything is okay, and she’ll be home late.”

Ross knew there was no way he was going to get to speak to Jill with her friends there. What would another twenty-four hours matter at this point? But he was certain of one thing. The next time they talked, there wouldn’t be any question whether or not things had been resolved, because he wasn’t leaving until they were.

“Since you’re all stag tonight, got any beer?” Drew asked.

‡

“I
didn’t mean
for everyone to overhear.” Her voice was soft, still trembling with embarrassment.

“You should’ve come to us. This is what best friends are for,” Lizette said.

They were right, but what was she going to say?
I want him but he doesn’t want me?
What she had shouted at him was true, but it wasn’t the deep-rooted cause of her anger. It stemmed from the internal battle taking place since their last meeting. When they cleared the air, she had no doubt he would be calling her soon, asking her out, and they could move forward with some sort of relationship. The fact that he hadn’t made any such effort hurt more than anything that transpired on the boat.

“Thanks, but I need to sort some of this out first.”

Elaine gave her hug and said, “Well, now it’s time to tell us what’s really going on.”

That wasn’t going to be easy. Telling them was going to require her admitting a few things to herself first. Like she had feelings for Ross and was still haunted by the heat he’d ignited within her. “It’s obvious we hooked up, but things didn’t work out.”

After a short pause Elaine continued, “Yeah, we figured that out ourselves. Let’s start with the kidnapping.”

Time to face it.
“He didn’t actually kidnap me.” With a heavy sigh she continued, “More like delayed my return.”

“And the difference is what exactly?” Lizette asked.

“Simple, it means I was a willing captive.” Blushing slightly, she knew what that implied.

“Really?” Elaine asked. “I want the details. And no holding anything back.” She chuckled.

Jill laughed softly. “It’s not all that exciting,” she lied.

“Let us be the judge. Spill it,” Lizette prodded.

It was a slow start, but once she began talking about Ross she really couldn’t stop. There were things she had been aching to say but thought she shouldn’t. Relieved it was all out in the open, she did feel better. Not great, but better. “The main problem tonight was how unaffected he seemed to be around me. I felt my heart was breaking, and my skin felt too tight. Yet, he seemed so . . . normal. I think that hurt the most.”

“You seem to have faced the same problem we all have faced,” Elaine commented.

Puzzled, Jill asked, “What problem is that?”

Lizette laughed. “Simple. You’re trying to understand how a man thinks.”

“There’s no logic in it. Once you think you have them figured out, they say something that makes you want to strangle them. Then just as quickly, they do something so sweet you never want to stop kissing them.”

It sounded absolutely ridiculous, but that was exactly how Ross made her feel. “So what do you do about it?”

“We’re marrying ours. Consider it a work in progress. You need to figure out exactly how you both feel first. Have you asked him?”

Like talking to a rock.
“I have tried talking to him, Lizette. It was useless, like he doesn’t believe in love or something.” She didn’t blame him after meeting his mother. Growing up in that household would have made her doubt many things as well. Though her parents were no longer alive, they had been a wonderful example of what true love in a marriage was. She knew it existed and wanted it for herself someday.
Whether that would be with or without Ross.

“The first question is one for you. You need to know how you feel first. Only then can you address his feelings,” Elaine added.

Why did movies make love seem like a bed of roses? It was
work.
Until now, Jill hadn’t allowed herself the opportunity to explore her own feelings for fear they may not be returned. Her heart could only get broken if she allowed it to feel. Were they correct? Was she going to have to risk it? How would she know when she had her answer?
So many questions.
After hours of girl talk she had no more answers than when they started, but it hadn’t been a waste of time. She’d learned what seemed outrageous behavior from Ross was something the others had also faced.
Male egos, I don’t get it.
If Lizette and Elaine could get through it, why couldn’t she?

She barely slept that night as she replayed each moment with Ross, over and over. One thing was clear: things were far from over with Ross and her, at least as far as she was concerned.

Ross took a
cab home after having a few too many beers. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d drank enough to get a buzz, never mind drunk. But he wasn’t so drunk that Jill wasn’t on his mind.

Picking up the cell phone he sent a text. “What are you doing?”

No response so he sent a second one. “Are you there?”

“I’m here. What’s the matter?” Jill replied.

“Nothing. What are you doing?”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning, what do you think I’m doing?”

I know what I wish you would say. That thoughts of us together are keeping awake too.
“I can’t sleep.”

“Sorry, Ross, but I can. Good night.”

He waited but nothing more came. It was going to be a long frustrating night. But there was one positive note, she responded to his text.
It’s a start.

‡

W
hat on earth
had Ross been thinking, texting her in the middle of the night? If there was something he wanted to discuss he should have said so. But as usual, he left it unsaid. Jill was too stressed and exhausted to do the thinking and talking for him. If it wasn’t for the fact Elaine had spent the night, she would have called him right then and given him a piece of her mind for disturbing her at such an hour.

Thankfully she was able to get a few hours of sleep even with Elaine getting up every hour to use the bathroom—as expected of a woman in her third trimester. Jill was grateful to have her company. She was fortunate to be loved and cared about. It was so different from the emotional support she received, or rather didn’t receive from Donna. But there was one thing she needed them all to understand: she could take care of herself, even when it came to dealing with Ross Whitman.

She did a lot of thinking after he texted her. Her mind envisioned so many things he could say to her,
I want you, need you, love you.
All the things
she
wanted him to say. That didn’t mean they were the words he planned. Even though she didn’t know exactly why he texted her, at least she knew for certain she was on his mind.
Hopefully haunting his dreams like he has mine the last few weeks.

Grabbing her cell, she texted him. “What are you doing?” No response. “Are you there?”

Maybe he was sleeping.
Even better.
She smiled and waited. Instead of a texted response her phone rang.

“Good morning.”

“Hi, Ross. How was your night?”
Hopefully restless like mine.

“It was okay. I was hoping we could talk today.”

Talk.
“Would you like to meet for lunch?”

“I was thinking more like dinner.”

She was tired herself and could use an afternoon nap. “Where would you like me to meet you?”

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Jill wanted to argue, stand her ground that this wasn’t a date, but getting around New York was much easier when he had the car meet them at the door. “I’ll be waiting.”
And plotting.
This may not have affected him as it did her, but only made it all the more painful. Somehow she was going to make him see that.

Ross was looking
forward to being with her, but it was going to depend on her willingness to accept this for what it was: a love affair, nothing more. If she wasn’t willing to do this on those terms, then it would be the last time they would see each other outside of normal social events.