The Billionaire Bum (11 page)

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

My hands were shaking as I walked in the front doors. There was a receptionist at a huge wooden reception area. That seemed like an acceptable place to start.

“How can I help you?” she asked coolly.

“I’d like to see Mr. Hayes,” I said.

“Which one?” Oh, right. Lexy said that his brother worked here, too. I wondered if it was a whole family affair.

“Jackson Hayes,” I clarified. I was really hoping that it wasn’t a family name. I had no idea if he was a junior or the seventeenth.

“He doesn’t see anyone without an appointment,” she said. “and he’s out of town until the end of the week.”

“Out of town?” I asked rather abruptly. “Where did he go?” She gave me a glare that stated it was none of my business. “He’s been vacationing in Hawaii. If you’d care to leave a number, I’ll see that his assistant receives it.”

“He can’t be in Hawaii,” I said. “He was just here this morning.”

“I’m sorry, Miss,” she said, clearly dismissing me, “He’s been out all week.” She turned to the next person in line behind me and went on with her job.

Hawaii? What the hell? Apparently I wasn’t the only one he was lying to.

“Miss?” A smooth deep voice rang out in my ear.

I jumped. Man, I was really on edge today.

“Yes?” I squeaked.

Before me was a man with military-short black hair. He was probably a few years older than me, but not much. He was dressed impeccably in a black suit. He was handsome, in a way, but his eyes had a wild look to them. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.

“I apologize for eavesdropping, but I thought I’d heard you say that you saw Jackson Hayes this morning.”

He smiled at me, and I felt like Little Red Riding Hood.
All the better to eat you with, my
dear.

“Um. I must have been mistaken,” I said. “He’s apparently in Hawaii.”

“I don’t think you were mistaken,” he said, taking a step closer to me. “Where did you see him?” I stepped back. He was seriously invading my personal space.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I didn’t know who this man was, and I didn’t know what his interest in Jackson was, but I wanted no part of this. “I’m afraid I need to be on my way.” I tried to brush past him, but he caught my upper arm and pulled me into his side. His breath was hot on my ear. “You will tell me where he is.” His voice was cold, and his fingers were digging painfully into my arm.

“I don’t know where he is,” I stammered. “I’m here because I thought he’d be here. I swear I don’t know anything. Let me go.”

Apparently he believed me, because he was gone a moment later, and I was left with my heart beating wildly in the lobby of Hayes Industries. I practically ran down the front steps of the building and hailed a cab. This whole thing was getting crazier by the minute.

Jackson

When I brought my fresh clothes back to the hotel, I showered again. I was going to burn my jeans when this was all said and done. I had spent $42 on another t-shirt, socks, and boxers.

I’d also bought a razor and another toothbrush. I hit up a second hand store for the cheapest pair of jeans I could find. They didn’t fit the same way as my regular jeans, but I could survive for a day or two. They were vintage right? I couldn’t quite convince myself of that.

I got in a couple more hours of sleep and let my mind roll back and forth between Nick and Alissa. At six o’clock a knock came on my door. I let Jason into my hotel room. He was followed by a huge man whom I could only assume was Ben.

“It’s nice to see you again, Ben,” I said. “Thanks for saving my ass the other day.” He smiled at me. “No problem, man. You were actually doing pretty well on your own.” We got down to business. Ben and Sean had been following Nick for more than thirty hours. They weren’t familiar with all of the employees in our company, so they took pictures of every individual that Nick interacted with. They put the large stack of pictures on the bed, and Jason and I started to dig through them.

I stopped on a picture of Kayla. “Where was this taken?” I asked. Ben looked over the photo.

“That’s his apartment. That woman went in about eleven last night and didn’t leave until about six this morning.”

“Kayla Craigan spent the night with Nick Carver?” I asked. Jason shrugged.

I went back to the pictures. From the look of things, Nick and Kayla were very familiar with each other. Ben had gotten pictures of them kissing several times, sharing cab rides, and eating together. When had this relationship developed? Was it before or after I asked Kayla to do the due diligence on his company? How long had she been lying to me?

“Jackson,” Jason asked, getting my attention, “Do you know who this is?” He was holding up a picture taken in the lobby of our corporate office. Nick had his hand on the arm of a woman with long brown hair. He appeared to be whispering in her ear.

Oh God. Alissa.

I couldn’t breathe.

What was she doing there? Her facial expression in the picture gave me no help. It was pretty much a blank expression.

Seeing Nick with his hands on her made my blood boil. Was he targeting her? How did he even know who she was? Oh, no, what if she was in on this? What if she was part of his plan to ruin me?

Jason was saying something, but it sounded muffled to me. I couldn’t fully process it.

Why was she visiting my office? Was she looking for me? She was dressed like she belonged in a corporate office. Did she have a meeting with someone?

“Ben, what can you tell me about this interaction?” I asked. I was trying desperately to keep my voice under control. Judging by the look on Jason’s face, I wasn’t succeeding.

“Um,” Ben said. He flipped through a book of notes. “She was talking to the receptionist, and then he walked up and said something to her. We weren’t close enough to hear what he said, but the whole thing lasted less than thirty seconds, and then he took off. It’s my opinion that she didn’t know him. She looked uncomfortable with him.”

I let out the breath that I had been holding. She probably didn’t know him. She wasn’t involved in this. That meant that she was looking for me. Oh God, that meant that she knew who I was!

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“About four hours ago,” Ben said.

“Who is she?” asked Jason.

“That’s Alissa,” I said. I felt so empty inside.

“Alissa? As in the most wonderful French toast in the world Alissa?”

“The very same. She knows who I am, Jason. What the hell am I going to do? She’s going to think I lied to her. She’s going to hate me.”

Kayla

I sat at a filthy desk in Nick’s warehouse trying to prepare the offshore accounts that we would need. As I waited for the page to load, I let my mind drift to the Hayes brothers. I had watched them last week in the boardroom as they argued in that playful way that they did. It was like they were in their own separate world when they got like that. Sometimes I wondered why they even had an executive board. It wasn’t like they ever took our advice.

Jackson threw his head back and laughed. He really was a beautiful male specimen. He would have made a good United States President – tall, good head of hair, articulate. He was a beautiful creature. It was a shame that I had to deceive him.

I didn’t want to do it, not really, but I’d been sitting in Jackson Hayes’ shadow long enough. When I got the position on the board I thought I had made it big. I thought I would be part of the intimate group that knew what made him tick. I thought I would get to make important decisions, be a part of something larger than myself. You can imagine my shock when I found out that I was to be a glorified secretary.

“Get the due diligence for the Wesin deal, Kayla. Where’s my report, Kayla? Are you sure these numbers are right, Kayla?”

I had a masters’ in business management from a prestigious university. I was not a fucking administrative assistant. I hadn’t worked this hard just to be ignored.

Nick was right. They didn’t care about anyone but themselves. Hell, they didn’t even notice anyone else.

I left that board meeting with a fresh stack of assignments that were just as demeaning as all the others. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered now was Nick. He was going to screw the Hayes for more than one hundred million dollars, and then we would disappear.

It was about time.

Nick had grown on me slowly. I didn’t really like him at first, truth be told. He had kind of a hard edge to him, but once you got past that, he was a great guy. He was ambitious, decisive, and attentive. He asked me out four times before I finally caved in and said yes. That man didn’t like to take no for an answer. I smiled at the thought. There was something to be said for persistence.

He was an incredible lover. He really cared about me. We would be happy together on some tropical beach with endless funds and no responsibility.

Granted, I had always wanted more out of life than to be paraded around in a bikini, but at least Nick would pay attention to me. He was going to marry me. We would have a beach wedding at sunset. It would be everything that a girl could hope for.

Screw Jackson fucking Hayes and the horse he road in on. It was time that he learned some humility.

Jackson

Did you ever feel like you were on the brink of screwing up the best thing that ever happened to you? It was like Romeo and Juliet, one giant clusterfuck of miscommunication that was bound to end in tragedy. There was no way that I could make this right. There was nothing that I could say.

I was going to go over there, bare my soul to her, and then hope like hell that she would understand. I had planned to tell her anyway, not that she would believe me, but I really did want her to know. I just wished that I had been able to tell her on my own terms. Now she was bound to be upset and confused. How could I have messed this up so badly?

And Nick! What the hell had he said to her? If he did anything to upset her, I was going to kill him. Forget gathering more information, I would drag his ass in front of the board right now and flay him alive. His girlfriend, Kayla, too, if it came to that.

Jason was driving me to her restaurant. It was almost seven. She was sure to be swamped with dinner customers. What terrible timing. I was supposed to be at the bar at eight, but I had no desire to be there. I needed to grow up and forget this whole ridiculous farce. I knew I couldn’t play homeless forever, but I was terrified that I would lose Alissa if I gave it up. I couldn’t let that happen. She was the first girl who had ever meant anything to me. She hadn’t even known my last name, but I felt like she knew me. I had to believe that she would understand, that she would accept me despite my deception. I wasn’t giving up that easily.

Jason dropped me at the corner, and I jogged up the alley to the kitchen door. I knocked and an employee that I hadn’t met answered the door.

“Would you please tell Alissa that Jackson is here to see her?” I asked. He gave me an odd look and then closed the door and disappeared inside. I paced the alley nervously.

“How’s Hawaii?” her sweet voice called. I looked up at her standing in the doorway. She was so beautiful it hurt just to look at her. She was still wearing the skirt that she had worn in the photo. I wondered why she hadn’t changed. I had to physically restrain myself to keep from sweeping her into my arms and refusing to let go.

I couldn’t read her expression. It was a mix of anger and fear and confusion all at the same time. I just wanted to make it better, to see her smile. “God, Alissa, I am so sorry. I was going to tell you who I was, I swear to you…”

She shook her head. “I can’t have this discussion right now, Jackson,” she said, cutting me off. “I have a restaurant full of customers, and I somehow managed to order the most bizarre combinations of foods at the market this morning, then one of my servers didn’t show up, so we’re kind of behind, and truthfully I just can’t have a breakdown right now.” She took a deep breath for a moment, and I could see the tears in her eyes. “I am angry at you for deceiving me, and I am very confused right now, but I promised Lexy that I would hear you out. I will hear you out, but not right now. I can’t do this after the day I’ve had.” She was going to give me a chance. She would listen to me.
Thank you, Lexy!
She was just asking for a little space. I needed to be reasonable about this.

“Of course, Alissa,” I said. “You’re being more than fair. Just tell me what time you would like for me to be here, and I’ll be here. I promise, I’ll explain everything.”

“No,” she said. “I’ll come to you. The dinner crowd dies down around nine. I’ll be ready around ten. Where will you be?”

I considered that for a minute. She might as well see the whole picture at this point. “I’ll be at work,” I said, “tending bar at the 31st Street Bar and Grill.” Confusion flashed across her face. “Unless you want me to call in and say that I’m not coming?” She sighed. “No. Don’t leave the poor bar owner shorthanded. I know how it feels. I’ll come up and have a drink when I’m done.” She turned to go back inside. “You are one strange man, Jackson Hayes.”

The door closed behind her, and I slumped against the brick wall. She said she was angry and confused. I could understand that. I was confused as well. At least she had given me the benefit of the doubt. She was willing to be rational about this. She wasn’t throwing anything yet, and she was going to come to the bar later to be with me.

I walked out of the alley to the subway. I had a job to get to.

Alissa

Could this day get any stranger? Seriously? He really worked as a bartender? I guess he wasn’t lying about everything then. I couldn’t think about it or I would go nuts. I was going to stop making assumptions and wait until he had a chance to explain himself. For right now I needed to focus on filling the dinner orders.

I had to chuckle every time I looked down at the dinner specials. Jackson had me so damn distracted this morning that I’d purchased three kinds of lettuce, but no cucumbers, peppers, or really anything else appropriate for a salad. I bought a massive amount of tomatoes –