In the Billionaires Club (2 page)

“Got it. What’s your name by the way?” She held out her hand.

The man looked surprised she was spending any attention on him. “Dave,” he replied, shaking Gin’s hand. His hand was massive and enveloped hers. His grip was strong but not painful. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you,” Gin replied, not entirely sure what Dave meant. She walked through the door and entered the fabled Billionaires Club.

It was like walking into a movie set from a film set in the twenties. The room was all dark wood and soft lighting, with an enormous wooden bar that went the entire length of the left wall. There were high bar tables in the middle of the room and intimate booths against the other three walls. There was even cigar smoke twirling near a wall sconce in the far corner where an older man was smoking a cigar and talking to two other older men.

The room was mostly empty. There were a couple men in booths wearing suits and typing on open laptops on the tables. A really beautiful woman in a bright red dress was talking to a man at least twice her age in one of the far booths. There was what looked like one of the employees in jeans and a white t-shirt sitting at the very end of the bar, while there were three younger guys sitting around one of the bar tables drinking and talking. They were wearing business casual outfits and seemed to be joking.
 

As Gin’s eyes got used to the subdued lighting she realized that one of the men was Phillip.
Time to see what kind of trouble I can get into
, Gin thought. She walked over, projecting a smile.

One of the men noticed Gin and elbowed Phillip. Phillip smiled wide and stood up. “You showed up!” He grabbed a chair from one of the empty tables and pulled it over. “Have a seat. Do you want anything to drink?”

“Hi, Phillip.” She walked over and sat in the chair, crossing her legs at the ankle and placing her hands on the table. All three men were staring at her cleavage. “I figured it was worth my while to experience the famous Billionaires Club at least once.”
 

“That’s a good philosophy. It’s always worth your while to experience us at least once.” It was the guy sitting to Phillip’s left. He was skinny and looked to be about eighteen. He smirked, while the other two laughed.

Phillip must have noticed that Gin wasn’t laughing. “Don’t mind Scott. He thinks he can buy his way to a woman’s heart.”

“Or at least into her pants,” said the man between Phillip and Scott, which made Scott laugh out loud.
 

“Can’t argue with success.” Scott drained his glass and looked at Gin. “I’m getting a refill, do you want a drink oh nameless one?”
 

“Oh, so sorry. I’m Gin, and I’ll have rum and Coke.”

“Gin wants rum. Got it.”
 

“I can’t believe I never did get your name,” Phillip said. He seemed more subdued in the atmosphere of the bar. “So it’s Gin. As in the drink?”

“As in Virginia.”

“Of course,” Phillip replied. “So tell me about yourself, Virginia.”

“Please call me Gin.”
 

Phillip held up his hands. “Sure. Sure. No problem. Just don’t want to be too informal as we just met.”

“Well, you seemed plenty informal when you said you didn’t think I was wearing underwear at the Orion.”

“See! I told you she doesn’t take shit. I love this girl,” Phillip said to the other man. He turned to Gin. “Okay, fair point. We’re all friends here, so you’re Gin from now on. So tell us about yourself.”

“It might be polite to introduce me to your other buddy first.” Gin nodded toward the man next to Phillip. He looked to be in his early thirties and was dressed in jeans and a well-tailored white cotton shirt. He had brown hair that was thin and receding a bit.

“That loser? You don’t need to know him. He’s not even a club member.”

The man rolled his eyes. “I’m Glenn.” He held out his hand. “I’m supposedly Phillip’s mentor, but that’s not saying much.”

“Yeah, Phillip’s a dick. You should probably just leave right now.” It was Steve, who had just returned. He slid Gin’s drink in front of her as he took his seat.

“Come on, guys. Let the girl make up her own mind on my assholery. Or lack thereof.” Phillip had a smile on his face and looked like he was having fun being teased by his friends. Gin didn’t find him nearly as obnoxious as she did at the Orion. His self-effacing attitude mixed with his previous arrogance just made him that much more attractive in her mind.

“I’m a paralegal. I went to some lame community college. I was born in San Diego and moved here because my uncle got me a job, and, well, that’s about it.” Gin shrugged and took a sip of her drink. It was really strong.

“Got a boyfriend?”

“Jesus, Steve. At least give Phillip a shot before you swoop in and try to steal his date.”
 

“So this is a date?” Gin looked at Phillip and raised an eyebrow.

“Sure. I asked you to join me here, and you came. Boom. First date.”

“Kind of sad that you have to have two wingmen with you on your first date.” Gin smiled innocently and took another sip of her drink.

“Okay guys, get the fuck out.” Phillip nodded toward the door. “You’re cramping my style.”

Steve shook his head. “I just got a drink.”
 

“Well move to a dark corner or something. I’m on a date.”

“You’re on a fishing expedition, not a date,” Glenn said, as he and Steve stood up and grabbed their drinks. Gin was shocked that they didn’t even question Phillip’s demand for them to leave. Glenn held up his drink and looked at Gin. “Nice to meet you, Gin.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Glenn.”

Glenn drained his drink and placed the empty glass on the table. “Actually, I’m heading home. Gotta prepare for the board meeting.”

“Ugh. You had to mention the board meeting,” Steve put his full drink on the table. “I’m out, too.”

Gin looked at Phillip. “You’re not going to prepare for the board meeting?”

“He’s the chairman. All he has to do is stay awake for the full meeting,” Glenn said, as Phillip smiled.

“He has trouble enough doing that, to be honest,” Steve added, slapping Phillip on the shoulder. “See you tomorrow.” He looked at Gin. “Nice to meet you, Gin.”

And a moment later, Gin was alone with Phillip, who just sat and stared at her. “So what’s it like being a Chairman?”

Phillip shrugged. “Well, Chairman is boring. I just listen to the guys tell me a bunch of stuff I already know.”

“Guys, hunh? No women?”

Phillip looked surprised, as if the question had not only never been asked but as if it had never even crossed his mind. “Nope, but, hey, if you want to invest a few hundred mil in the company, I’m sure I can get you on the board.”
 

Gin stared at Phillip. He looked annoyed at her line of questioning. It was a moment that she knew would define whatever relationship that they would or could have. Not knowing the context of Phillip’s defensiveness, Gin backed off. She had plenty of time to learn more about him and his attitudes toward women.

She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t have the spare cash to buy a Starbucks, let alone invest in your company.”
 

The tension lifted and Phillip’s smile returned. “Well, the board is boring, like I said. Luckily I’m also the CEO. Now
that’s
exciting.”

“Okay, enough of this vague talk of titles. What the hell is the name of the company you run?”
 

“Right to the point. Love that. I’m the founder of Inky.” Inky was the hottest new social networking site around, based on short text and video. Gin remembered reading how the brash CEO turned down a two billion dollar acquisition offer from Google, only to raise over four billion dollars in an IPO half a year later.
 

Holy shit. Phillip actually
was
a billionaire.
 

“You’ve heard of Inky, I see.” Phillip laughed and drained his glass. “Refill time.” He stood up and grabbed Gin’s half empty glass. Gin stood open jawed as Phillip strode over to the bar.

She couldn’t help it. Gin imagined dates to Manhattan. Fancy dates to the theater. Casual gifts of expensive cars and jewelry. She looked down at her sundress. Maybe she’d even be able to finally get some fitted clothes that would make her look good without having guys ogle at her. As Phillip returned, Gin imagined what you could buy for a billion dollars.
Anything you wanted
.

Phillip slid her rum and Coke in front of her and sat on his chair. He took a long drink from his glass. “So enough about me. Tell me about yourself. What are your hobbies? What’s your favorite movie? Were you wearing underwear at the Orion?" Just as Gin glanced at Phillip he raised his hands. “Kidding!”

She had to smile. He had the same look as he had at the Orion. Black curly hair, kind of cute in how it was disheveled, an expensive suit, and a young face that was either mischievous or arrogant, depending on what Phillip was saying at the time. At the Orion, it was definitely arrogance, but here at the Billionaires Club, Phillip seemed more at ease, and his comments were mischievous and teasing. She was enjoying her time with him.

“Well, my hobbies are reading bad romances, watching way too much reality TV, and long drives.”

“Excellent. I like long drives, too.”

“Not bad romances?”

“Afraid not. Not a huge fan of reality TV either.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to spend more time on this social networking thing called Inky, too.”

“Nice. You should friend me.”

“Might help if you gave me your last name.”
 

“Holy shit, I can’t believe I didn’t tell you that.” Phillip leaned forward. “Honestly, Gin. It didn’t cross my mind because I feel like I already know you. You have this naturalness about you that I find really attractive. So I apologize for not asking your name or giving you mine. It’s Rogers.”

“My last name is Langdon.”
 

Phillip edged his chair closer, and the two of them spent the next hour talking about little things that they enjoyed and shared. Gin was enjoying their conversation, so when Phillip glanced at his phone for the third time, she asked what was wrong.

“Well, I was kidding earlier. I actually do have to prepare for the board meeting, but I’ve been enjoying our conversation so much that I didn’t want to just cut things off.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. We can meet some other time. You should take care of your work stuff.” Gin stood up, and Phillip did the same.

“Thanks, Gin. I do want to see you again. I’m here pretty much every night. Just come by whenever you have time, and we can pick up where we left off.” Phillip pulled out his wallet as his phone dinged with a text message. He looked through his wallet before closing it with an exclamation of “Shit.” His phone dinged again, and Phillip looked at it.

“Problem?”

“Two problems. I need to take a call right now, and I don’t have any cards on me.” Phillip yelled over to the bartender. “Hey, Rich. Give Gin here a card. I don’t have any left. I have to run.” Rich nodded his head as he put a glass and a washcloth down. “Sorry, Gin. I really need to run. Rich will take care of you.” Phillip walked over and before Gin could react, he leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Bye.”

As Phillip rushed out, Gin touched her lips with her fingers. The kiss was not so much an invasion of her space as totally unexpected. Phillip had soft lips, and she had to admit that the kiss gave her a little thrill.
 

She walked over to the bar. The bartender was talking to the young man in jeans and t-shirt at the end of the bar. She stood next to him and put her hands on the bar. “Phillip said you’d have a card for me.”

As she spoke, the man sitting at the bar looked at her. She glanced at him and froze.
Jesus, he’s fucking gorgeous
. With thick wavy brown hair, a firm jaw, and piercing blue eyes, the guy looked like a model from some clothes catalog. He also filled out the t-shirt well. In fact, he looked exactly like the kind of loser blue collar boyfriend she had always gone for. Hot, full of attitude, sexist, with no hope of a future, and only interested in sex.
 

“Sure thing. Just had to give Vinnie here a refill.”
 

The bartender walked away, and Vinnie raised his glass to Gin. “I like emptying them, and Rich likes filling them. We have a special relationship.” Vinnie smiled, and Gin couldn’t stop staring. He had big dimples and pure white teeth.

Gin wondered what the guy did. He clearly wasn’t a member. Maybe he was the day bartender. “I guess you can’t really empty them during the day,” she replied.

“Yeah, that would be bad. I shouldn’t even be emptying them now.” He looked around.
 

Gin nodded. “Yeah, they probably aren’t too fond of you hanging at the bar dressed like that for longer than just a bit.”

“Nah, most of the guys are cool with me. And the others?” Vinnie took a long drink. “Fuck’em.”

“Couldn’t they get you fired?”

Vinnie laughed and nodded his head toward Rich, who had just walked back over. “Rich, who here could get me fired?”
 

“Most of them are more worried that you’ll get them fired, Vinnie.” Rich held the card out to Gin. Gin imagined the secrets a bartender at the Billionaire’s Club would hear.
Yeah, he probably does have a kind of subtle power over the clientele.

“Still, I guess I could be more respectful.”

Gin took the card but focused on the conversation between the two bartenders, discussing the political dynamics of a bar full of billionaires.
 

“Nah. That would ruin your charm.”

“Probably.” Vinnie turned to me. “What do you think? Am I charming or annoying?”

Gin felt like the question bordered on a come on, so she wanted to nip that in the bud. The last thing she needed was a bartender hitting on her. “Annoying. Definitely annoying.”
 

Vinnie shook his head but was smiling, while Rich laughed. “There you have it, Vinnie.”
 

“Well, she was hanging out with Phil. I would say she has questionable taste.”