The Next Level: A BWWM Billionaire Marriage And Pregnancy Romance (4 page)

“
I
made us some drinks! Bourbon treats. Cheers!”

Chelsea
clinked her glass against Sangi’s and tossed the shot back
quickly. She gagged. Several flavors swirled on her tongue, none of
them the least bit pleasant. It was too late to spit the drink out,
so she ran to the sink. Cold water filled her mouth before she
swished it around a few times and spit the concoction out.

“
What
the hell was that, Sangi?”

“
A
bourbon treat. It has p
eppermint
schnapps, ouzo, Jagermeister, Goldschlager and blue curacao, I think.
Oh, that’s right you don’t like black licorice.”

“
Yes,
because the black licorice was the problem and not the million other
ingredients of liquor,” she said coughing.

Sangi
inspected her empty glass. “I thought it was pretty fucking
good. Okay, I’ll make you a martini.”

“
A
regular martini.”

Once
her mouth was no longer screaming at her, they walked into the dining
room. Chelsea brushed a pile of clothes onto the floor before she
sunk into the worn, brown couch. No matter how much Chelsea begged
her to get a new one, she refused. It looked out of place against the
vibrant colors filling the house. Still, Chelsea knew it was the last
thing her mom had purchased before she passed so she didn’t
push her too hard.

“
What’s
the news on meeting Matthew’s parents? Did you ask him if I
could come?”

“
He
said of course you can.”

Sangi
laughed before taking a sip of her drink. “Bullshit. He said no
and you either batted your eyelashes or shook your ass so he’d
say yes,”

Chelsea
swatted at Sangi. “Forget you. I’m going to tell him I
changed my mind.”

Sangi
shook her head. “No, no, no! I want to go,” she said as
she bounced on the couch a little.

Chelsea
shook her head. “So mature. Hey, I found something out today.”

“
What’s
that?”

“
Matthew
has a brother.”

Sangi’s
brown eyes went wide. “A brother. Is he hot? Is he older or
younger? What’s he do for a living?”

“
I
guess. I don’t know. I don’t know. Matthew won’t
tell me anything about him. I just found a picture of him online with
his dad. It bothers me that he wouldn’t tell me anything about
his family. I mean, what if he’s hiding something?”

Sangi
shrugged. “Matthew may be an asshole, but I doubt he tortured
small animals as a child or anything else horrible. He’s
probably just not on great terms with them.”

“
He
talks to his mother like five times a day.”

“
That’s
obsessive.”

Chelsea
sighed. “Oh, yeah.”

After
they’d finished their second drinks, Chelsea went back out to
the car and grabbed her wedding binder. She sat the heavy book down
on the cluttered coffee table as Sangi began to straighten it up. It
was late, already ten, so they couldn’t call anywhere, but they
still spent their time pouring over the details of the wedding.
Chelsea pointed out the bridesmaids dresses she’d finally
decided on. They were soft lilac with white lace flowers designs on
the top, lilac tulle on the bottom and tied at the waist with a
satiny lilac bow.

“
I
love them! They’re so pretty.” Sangi fawned over the
pictures.

“
Yeah
and everyone will finally be satisfied,” Chelsea said with a
laugh.

Sangi
rested a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, just remember this is your
wedding. If anyone doesn’t like any part of it, they can fuck
off. It’s your day. That goes for Matthew’s parents too,”
she said smiling.

Chelsea
reached up a hand and squeezed Sangi’s. She could still feel a
nervous fluttering in her stomach. More than she wanted to admit, she
cared what Matthew’s parents thought. Without saying a word,
Sangi picked up Chelsea’s glass and disappeared into the
kitchen. Chelsea smiled. There was a reason they were best friends.

“
All
packed up, babe?”

Chelsea
looked up at Matthew as he slid into her office. The wooden door
clicked into place after him. He was wearing one of her favorite blue
suits, a solid gray tie around his neck. In his hand were a few beige
colored files. He dropped them on her desk before he leaned down and
kissed her on the lips. He sat across from her, crossing a leg over
one knee. He looked delicious.

“
Not
even. I just don’t know what to wear.”

“
I
can help you when we get home,” he said. ”I just wanted
to ask one thing.”

Chelsea
raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

He
ran a hand over the back of his head. Fidgeted with his ties. She
waited patiently until he looked at her again.

“
Could
you not tell my parents we’re living together?”

Chelsea
dropped her black pen, leaned back against her chair and laced her
fingers. She didn’t say a word, but she knew Matt could feel
her anger rising. Ever since he’d said she was going to meet
his parents he had been acting odder and odder. It was hitting a
point where Chelsea wondered if he was ashamed of her. She knew that
wasn’t entirely true, but she still felt it. His actions
weren’t helping.

“
Why?”
She asked, keeping her voice calm.

“
Well,
they’re very religious. Protestants. Especially my mother and
grandmother. I just don’t want to make them uncomfortable.”

Chelsea
pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes. “Of
course dear, is there anything else you want to tell me now? We are
going up there in less than two hours.”

Matthew
put on an uneasy grin. “Nope, that’s it. Come on, I know
you’ll love them. And they’ll love you too, of course.”

She
sighed. “Alright. Mr. Whitehill said I could cut out early. Are
you coming with me?”

Blond
hair whipped around a little as he shook his head. “Nope, I’m
afraid not. I have to finish up this contract. The city just
implemented some impossible limitations and I gotta find a way around
them. I’ll join you as soon as I’m finished.”

There
was a brief knock on the door before it swung open. Mr. Whitehill
stood there, sweating and looking uncomfortable. He turned from
Matthew to Chelsea then back again.

“
I
can’t have you two alone in this office. It starts up too many
rumors. I’ve already caught three people saying that you two
were...um...you know… Let’s keep it professional, love
birds!”

Matthew
flashed one of his grins at Chelsea. She couldn’t help but to
imitate it. She shook her head softly as the door closed behind
Matthew. It was going to be a long weekend.

*****

Matthew
threw the last of her bags into the back of the car before they
headed over to Sangi’s. As she came out of the house with three
more suitcases of her own, Matthew grumbled. He fit what he could in
the trunk, but one still ended up on the side of Chelsea’s
heeled feet.

“
I
still don’t know why the both of you need eight combined
suitcases just for a weekend,” Matthew complained as he started
driving.

“
I
told you I didn’t know what to wear. This way, I can be
prepared for every situation. I’ve got this whole preppy look
down to a science,” Chelsea said as she flipped through the
radio stations. “How long until we get to Nantucket?”

“
Almost
four hours, so settle in. We won’t get there until about nine,
so I doubt very much is going to happen tonight.”

“
Will
your brother be there?” Sangi asked from the backseat.

Matthew
glared into the rearview mirror. “Yes and his girlfriend will
probably come up tomorrow.”

Sangi
flopped against the backseat. She pouted. Chelsea tried to stifle a
laugh by turning up the radio a little louder. Matthew was a pain the
entire way to his parents house. She could tell he was really
nervous, but still he was grating on her nerves. By the time they
exited the freeway, Chelsea’s nervousness was being drowned out
by relief. She hated long car rides. That quickly went away however
when the landscape seemed to change. There were a few houses
sprinkled throughout the landscape, but the more they drove the
bigger they became. The roads turned to dirt and gravel. The sound of
the tires crunching over the rocks made her clench her teeth.

Matthew
turned right onto a graveled road. He flicked on his high beams. They
drove for what felt like an eternity. Trees stood tall on the right,
on the left there was darkness and grass. Chelsea shivered.

“
Geez
Matt. Don’t you think if you wanted to kill me you could have
done it in Boston?”

Matt
mocked her laugh playfully. “No, out here I have all these
trees. They would never find you." He grinned.

“
You
two were made for each other.”

The
narrow road turned into a circle drive decorated on both sides by
some impressive topiary. It was the house that made Chelsea’s
mouth fall open. The house was lit all over with a soft, orange white
glow of in-ground spotlights. The house was designed to look like a
Spanish chateau, with wavy shingles and a soft sandstone exterior.
The home was grand.

“
Holy
shit,” Sangi said breathlessly.

“
Matt,
you said your family had a little money.”

“
Well,
I'm sure there's an Arabian prince somewhere with more money...”

"So
you're not royally rich."

He
went quiet after that. Chelsea turned from him and glanced up at the
house as they finally came to a stop. She suddenly felt very small
and very under dressed. She was wearing her good jeans, the Seven For
All Mankind denim she only wore for important occasions. The red
pumps on her feet however suddenly felt like they were purchased from
the back of a trunk. Her blouse, creamy white and short sleeved felt
wrong on her skin. Even her makeup felt cheap in those glittering
lights, those expensive cars.

“
I
feel uncomfortable. Let’s go home,” she barely got the
words out of her mouth.

Matthew
shook his head. “We just got here.”

Chelsea
turned to him, panic in her eyes. She shook her head. Gripped his
arm. “You promised.”

“
And
I meant it babe, but we just got here. You haven’t even met
them yet. We’ll stay, at least for tonight. I just did all of
that driving…” he trailed off.

“
I
can drive back,” she said quickly.

“
You’re
night blind, remember?”

Chelsea
pushed back against the leather seat. She crossed her arms. A hand
lay on her thigh as he caressed it gently. All of them looked up when
the door opened. A man was illuminated by the warm light spilling out
of the door. He took the steps quickly, but elegantly. As he got
closer, Chelsea could make out an impeccable black suit, topped off
with a bright yellow bow tie.

“
Don’t
tell me that’s a servant,” Chelsea said quietly.

She
heard a stifled giggle from Sangi. It turned into a full on laugh.
Chelsea turned to her, eyes wide. There was no trace of a smile on
her lips.

“
This
isn’t funny,” she hissed.

“
He’s
not a servant. That’s Jackson, our butler. He's in charge of
running the estates. He oversees all of the staff, consider him more
of an assistant. He’s been with our family for years.”

“
Oh,
well that’s perfectly normal then,” Chelsea replied.

“
Love
your sarcasm. Heads up.”

As
the man approached her door, she almost wanted to flatten herself
against the seat. She wanted to tell him they’d made an awful
mistake. Surely, Matthew’s parents were sensible people in a
sensible house. The car door was opened and the man extended a hand
to her. She took it reluctantly. Chelsea let herself be helped out
into the warm air where she stood admiring her surroundings without
speaking.

Matthew
slipped her purse into her hand. Her fingers clutched it without
needing the use of her brain. The man who’d helped her out of
the car, Jackson, she reminded herself, began to take their suitcases
into the house. Chelsea stooped down to pick up one of her bags.