Bad Boy's Baby Part 59

"We need that party!" She spun the straw in her water. "Fine. We'll move it up. Screw graduating. We'll have a Shay Is Free party."

I didn't want to be free. In fact, I wanted to be so layered in school work, chalk dust, and demerit slips I'd be dreaming the ABCs when I got home.

"Maybe?" I frowned. "I'm not feeling like partying."

Layna huffed. "You mean to tell me you have a giant a.s.s house, pool, tennis courts, and gold fountains, and you don't want to party?"

"It's not that. Of course I want to celebrate."

Maybe.

"Good. We're on. We'll have a big blowout. f.u.c.k graduating. You're rich. What do you need an education for?"

I didn't need a degree, but a h.e.l.l of a lot of other kids did. How would I help them now?

"We'll figure something out," I said. "Can we order dinner?"

Heaven dropped the menu and flashed me a glance that practically layered Atlanta in ice.

"Look, Shay. I love you, but get your head out of your a.s.s."

The table quieted. So did the tables surrounding us. Two booths away, someone broke a breadstick with a crack. She was immediately hushed.

"You're a f.u.c.king billionaire. You have a car, a house, a future. You never have to worry about a G.o.dd.a.m.ned thing ever again. So don't sit here and pretend to be humble."

"Pretend?"

Heaven's lips pouted even when she was happy. Now that she scolded me? Disapproval was her superpower, and we hadn't found any kryptonite to throw at her.

"You've always pretended that the money didn't matter. Look at your purse. Your shoes. Your car. So you lived in an apartment with your mom before college. We all did, honey." She scoffed. "I don't know what's sadder. You flaunting the money...or you pretending you never had any to begin with."

"Heaven, I didn't-"

"It doesn't matter. Go plan your party. Live in your estate. f.u.c.k your brother. G.o.d knows someone as rich as you can get away with whatever you want."

"That's not true!"

"I don't even know why you're sitting here with us," Heaven said. "You've been checking your phone every ten seconds since we got here. Do you have somewhere better to be? Bank's closed, sweetheart."

"Holy Christ, Heaven." Azariah frowned. "What climbed up your a.s.s?"

Heaven returned to scouring the menu. She gave Azariah a p.i.s.sy glance. "Just ask her what you wanted. Tell her why we came out tonight. Go on, Zar. Ask her."

I swallowed. "Ask me what?"

Azariah was in no mood. Even I never riled her up that much. "Drop it, Heaven."

"I'll tell her if you don't."

Azariah's nails were too sharp to risk getting her angry. I laid a hand over her wrist.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Azariah's gaze lowered. Something told me she wasn't really reading the advertis.e.m.e.nt for the double fudge brownie sundae.

"I meant...to ask you for a loan."

"A...what?"

"My car's in bad shape. I need a new alternator and breaks."

I swallowed. "Oh."

"Just a loan. I'd pay you back."

My best friend of fifteen years should never have looked that ashamed to come to me for help. "Of course."

The rest of the table shifted, taking awkward sips of their drinks. Azariah shrugged at the other girls.

Layna was the first to speak. "Books this year were expensive. I was going to ask too."

I stilled. I suddenly understood. Layna nudged Nikkole with an elbow into her side.

Nikkole smiled. "Trey is getting married. I have to buy a dress."

I didn't know what to say. "You...all want loans?"

Heaven showed me her broken phone. "My screen's cracked. I need a new cell before this one dies."

"Oh." My stomach twisted. "I mean...I don't know."

Azariah's voice softened. "I don't think the car will make it through the week."

"Well...I want to help, but-"

Heaven snorted. She tossed her phone into her purse and muttered to Layna. "Told you she wouldn't do a d.a.m.n thing."

"Wait!" I said. "Why didn't you think I'd help? You know that I'd do anything for you."

"Would you? Now?" Heaven's tone was too sharp for a girl I let copy from my homework all freshman year. "You don't need us. Why would help out your so-called friends when you could sit up in your mansion and f.u.c.k your brother?"

"Don't you dare!" I groaned. "Look, I'll do whatever I can, but you guys know my trust hasn't kicked in yet. I don't have the money."

"How do you afford the house?"

"My dead father's estate pays for the upkeep." I gritted my teeth. "You really think I'd deny you guys? Well, Heaven, you can screw yourself, but you three..." I swallowed. Azariah, Layna, and Nikkole had the decency to look away. "When you said to come out tonight...you weren't trying to help me with Professor Sweeten at all. You just wanted...money?"

Heaven sipped her water. "Told ya'll."

"Know what?" I dug through my purse and found two crumpled twenties. I tossed them on the table. "There. That's everything I have on me. Divvy it up. I'll sell off a f.u.c.king rug or something tomorrow. You can have whatever you need."

Azariah tossed her purse to Layna and tried to follow. "Shay, wait."

"I gotta go," I said. "Thanks for the invite out, but I should get back to my brother." I eyed Heaven. "Make sure he survived our f.u.c.king last night."

Yeah, that wasn't a good thing to shout in a crowded restaurant. People stared, but I was too mad to be ashamed of my behavior.

None of this made any sense. I didn't do anything wrong. Did they really think I was flaunting my money by not flaunting how fortunate I was?

Did they even know how ridiculous it felt to get my father's fortune? It was random-like a lottery I didn't enter. I hardly knew Dad, and what I remembered wasn't great. He was a man who lost his temper with Momma most nights at dinner and a father who missed his child's every recital, school function, and birthday.

And maybe they were right. Maybe I shouldn't have cared where the money came from.

Except the ache in my heart was a loneliness that cash and investments couldn't heal. Momma was gone. Dad had never been around. I had no real family, and my friends couldn't understand just how deep the scars ran.

Only one person ever saw through my pretense. He'd felt the same way, tried to comfort me, and was either my last bit of family or the beginning to a scary and exciting relationship.

So why did I keep running from him? I wouldn't blame him if he gave up on me. He asked for a chance to make something happen, moments beyond shamed nights when I needed comforted. He came to talk to me, and I hadn't listened. I took what I needed and left.

I wouldn't do that to him again.

Zach was either my step-brother, which made him family, or he was...

I didn't know what else he could be, but I hoped for something amazing.

I drove home and braced myself for the relationship talk of all talks. Epic levels of mushy-stuff, heart-to-hearts, and every cliche the French ever discovered. My stomach twisted. This was the one conversation I couldn't afford to mess up.

I parked in the garage, checked my makeup, and hurried into the house. Zach wasn't in the gym or theater. I dropped my purse on the kitchen counter. A bottle of aspirin overturned on the island. I tucked it in the cabinet.

And froze.

Two wine gla.s.ses rested in the sink.

One smudged with the barest pink of lipstick.

My heart knotted itself into a pretty little bow of innocence and naivety.

Was I that much of an idiot?

Her voice carried from the parlor. I didn't know what I expected to find or why I didn't just turn around and walk out of the estate.

I rounded the corner into the parlor. Zach laughed on the couch-fully-clothed, a G.o.dd.a.m.ned miracle. He spread his legs wide, and the pretty little blonde who owned the red Porsche sat on the coffee table. She smiled and patted his knee.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but my heart pounded itself into a million flaking pieces.

It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since I hopped into his arms, and he was already s.e.xing up some other little tart the instant I left the house?

Her smile faded as she spied me in the doorway. She gestured to Zach.

He turned, those striking green eyes capturing me in a wide-eyed blitz of panic.

"Shay!" He swore. "I...didn't know you were back."

Chapter Fifteen - Zach.

Son of a b.i.t.c.h.

What was she doing home so early?

"Shay." I stood. "I thought you'd be out for a bit longer."

"Imagine that."

s.h.i.t.

She was p.i.s.sed, and her anger was another vice trying to crush my head from the inside.

I called to her when she retreated from the room. "Shay, it's not how it looks."

She tried to be mad, but her words trembled instead. Her lip quivered. f.u.c.k. I'd kick my own a.s.s for hurting her.

"Save it," she said. "I should have known better."

"Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," she said. "It's not like...like we were..."

Dating. Exclusive. Made for each other. f.u.c.king perfect together.

"Shay!"

And she was gone. Storming upstairs.

Why was she back so G.o.dd.a.m.ned early?

And how was I supposed to reveal who Gretchen was without f.u.c.king everything up?

I groaned. I'd paint the bulls-eye on my a.s.s now. Shay would kick me to the curb, and I didn't want her aiming too low.

"The little missus is jealous." Gretchen leaned on the coffee table. It didn't help that she was all f.u.c.king leg in the skin-tight c.o.c.ktail dress she wore for the house-call. "I'm a.s.suming you haven't told her about me."

"What's to tell?"