Billionaire Happy After

Six: birthday

That should've been my first warning.

I should've ran. Should've given him the cake and left him to enjoy a pity party by himself. That would've been the smart choice since it was clear that something was wrong.

Lucas never got drunk.

It wasn't like he didn't drink. He just had a high enough tolerance for alcohol that he could drink everyone under the table without breaking a sweat. He knew his limits and he never let himself cross them.

But I didn't run.

"Happy birthday!" I exclaimed instead.

"How did you find out?" he asked. For a moment I thought he didn't want me here because he had some other girl over, but I quickly dismissed that theory, especially when he didn't make a move to stop me from walking into his apartment.

His apartment was gorgeous, definitely nicer than what you'd expect a nineteen year old who worked at an auto repairs shop to have. It was in the side of town closer to Hampton Hills on one of the higher floors of the a brand new complex building.

It was nice, but too open to effectively hide another person.

When I thought about it now, I almost wished that he'd had another girl over. That I had caught him cheating on me, or something. That something that awful had happened so I had ended this disastrous relationship before it got very far.

"One of the guys you work with told me," I replied.

"You gotta be more specific than that, Gigi," he said.

I glanced at him. "Why does it matter?"

I was kind of stupidly hoping he was jealous. Lucas wasn't the possessive kind of boyfriend, and while I told myself I didn't care, that it was good I didn't have to worry about him breathing down my neck and getting mad when I talked to another guy, it would've been nice seeing him worry a little. But of course he was too confident for that.

"So I know who to beat up for telling you," he answered.

I pouted. "Why don't you want me to know so bad?"

"I don't want to do anything for my birthday," he told me, spitting out the last word like it was acid burning in his mouth.

"You can't not celebrate your birthday." I skipped into the kitchen and set down the box with the cake in it on the counter. "Do you have any matches for the candles?" I asked, poking through the drawers.

"Gigi, stop." He closed the drawer I was currently rifling through and turned me around so my back was pressed against the a cold slab of granite. "No fire."

I glanced up at him, smelling the whiskey on his breath. He set the bottle down beside me as he braced his arms against the counter on either side of me. I craned my neck to look at it. "Jack Daniels? I thought you hated that stuff."

He'd said the smell made him sick.

He shook his head and stepped away. "You should go, Gigi."

"No way. I'm not letting you spend your birthday having a solo alcohol party," I protested. I turned and opened another drawer.

Jackpot.

"Found them," I announced triumphantly, holding up a small box. I pulled out a match and struck it against the side of the box until a tiny flame appeared, then turned back to the cake.

"I'm not in the mood, Georgia ," Lucas said, his words slurred, but shaky, though his eyes were transfixed on the burning stick.

I ignored him, moving to light the candles.

"Stop."

And then what had supposed to have been one of the best nights of my life turned into the memory I did my absolute best to never visit again.

***********

I had planned to make the morning I left as dramaless as possible. Which was why I had lied to Mom and told her I wouldn't be leaving until eight when we were supposed to go to the school at six-thirty.

Christian almost ruined all of it.

He showed up around six-twenty and rang the doorbell.

Our doorbell's loud enough to echo through the house.

I'm going to stab him.

I yanked open the door and glared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He blinked at me. "Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?"

"Aren't we supposed to meet at the school in ten minutes?" I asked, wincing slightly at the sound of footsteps from upstairs. s**t. s**t. s**t. "Nevermind, let's go." I grabbed the cup of coffee I had made in the morning (and planned to enjoy slowly) and the handle of my suitcase before racing out, practically shoving Christian over in my haste.

He followed after me. "You have problems," he said. "I decided to be nice and get the RV early to pick you up and I get a glare as a thank you."

"Can we just go please?" I shook my head as I slid open the door to the RV, pushing in my suitcase before crawling inside. I set my coffee in the cup holder on the and turned to look around the RV.

He slid into the driver's seat and started the RV. "I would've preferred doing this alone," he muttered.

I chose not to respond, too busy taking in the interior of the RV. It was nice, much nicer than I expected it to be. There was a bed mounted against the back wall, which probably meant the back unfolded or something. Along the walls of the RV beside the bed were two long closets, then a small kitchen with a microwave and mini-fridge ad a door which I suspected lead to a bathroom.

Directly behind the driver and passenger seats was a couch that looked like it could be pulled out into a bed. Which made sense, I guess, since there was only one bed on the wall, and I doubt the school would encourage people sleeping in the same bed together. The couch looked pretty comfy actually, I wouldn't mind sleeping on it.

Then Christian pulled over abruptly, causing me to fall over and knock into the couch, making it look significantly less comfy. "Why'd you stop?" I asked, sitting up.

"Get up here," he ordered.

I climbed over the center console and slid into the passenger seat. "What?" I asked glancing at Jacen.

"You're in charge of directions, he told me, flinging a bunch of maps at me. I threw up a hand, barely avoiding getting sliced in the eye. "Jeez, ever heard of a GPS?"

"There's one in the glove compartment," he replied. I popped open the compartment in front of me and sure enough, there was a brand new GPS. It was even still in the box.

They get new GPS's every year?

"Hurry up," Christian said irritably as I picked at the sticker sealing it closed. "Let's try and actually go somewhere today, okay?"

"I'm trying," I snapped back. "Why can't you do the directions?"

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel and shrugged "Because I have no idea where we're supposed to be going?"

"Still not checked your mail?" I asked as I finally managed to rip off the sticker.

Christian pulled a thick manila envelope out from under his seat and slapped it down on the center console. "I haven't opened it."

"Wait, how'd you know my address then?" I had figured that he had got it from my information sheet, but if he hadn't even opened the packet they sent him...

He raised an eyebrow. "I drove you home a couple nights ago?"

Oh yeah.

I pulled the GPS out of the box and pressed the power button. I turned it over in my hands, examining the device. It looked pretty high-quality and fancy, and considering it was new, I was pretty sure the school wouldn't get new GPS's like this every year. That coupled with the surprising niceness of the RV, gave me a feeling that something wasn't quite right.

"Is this the school's RV?" I asked slowly.

"I rented it," he replied, confirming my suspicions. "I'm not spending two weeks in an RV that smells like stale s*x and weed."

"Guess I'm paying for gas then," I muttered as I set up the RV.

He heard me anyway. "It's whatever. We split it."