Billionaire Happy After

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And it's not what it seems,

And your heart's on the line,

I never wanna be the one fading.

Am I out of my mind?

Do I got it all wrong?

Don't I have what I want?

"Can't Slow Down" -Hedley

Christian ended up not getting arrested.

Officially, completely, that is.

He got off with a slap on the wrist and a stern warning to be smarter about his ice cream choices. I guess the officer figured a night in a holding cell taught Christian that he wasn't nearly as important or influential as he perceiving himself to be.

Of course we had not planned on stopping when the officer had pulled us over, so we were seriously behind schedule. I had gone to get Christian as soon as I woke up, at around nine, but even so we did not make the University of Chicago presentation. We did, however, manage to get to Northwestern in time.

"Sorry," Christian muttered as we finished the tour for Northwestern. "We didn't get to see your universities."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I don't think our attendance record for these universities is great, though." He didn't respond to that, so I glanced over to see his brow furrowed, gaze fixed across the campus. I turned to see what he was staring at, but there was nothing there. Unless he was trying to count the amount of bricks on the University Hall or something. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

He shook his head and looked back at me. "Considering if I want to sue someone."

"Who?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow. "The police guy? For what?"

"Infringing on my constitutional rights against unreasonable detainment," he replied.

"What? Isn't that a lot of work?" I'd never sued anyone else. Since he'd been charged with arson, the state had been the one to prosecute Lucas. The trial had taken a long time, though, and I could just imagine how expensive a lawyer would be. Though, I guess if you were Christian Harvey , legal fees weren't the top consideration.

He shrugged.

"Was it that big of a deal?" I asked.

"Well, I mean you missed your presentation," he muttered.

"Aww, you care that much about me?" I teased, bumping against him. "I'm flattered."

"Yeah, not like I spent an entire night in a five by five for no reason, or anything," he replied sarcastically.

"It's okay, I don't blame you, I know I'm a very likeable person," I said, batting my eyelashes at him. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined when a gust of wind blew a couple strands of hair in front of my face.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're impossible, Benjamin " He reached out and brushed some of the stray strands behind my ear. My breath caught as we stared at each other. I bit my lip, my eyes straying to his mouth, but I quickly forced them back to meet his gaze.

Are we having a moment?

Is he going to kiss me?

Why isn't he looking away?

What does this even mean?

Should I kiss him?

Just as I was about to lean in and try, he cleared his throat. "So, um," he said, his voice a little hoarse. He cleared his throat again. "You sure you don't mean?" He leaned back, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck.

I blinked. "Yeah, it's- Don't worry about it." I gave myself a little mental shake to get out of that weird ass spell that had come upon me a moment ago. "Didn't I tell you? My parents picked most of my schools."

He nodded, staring past me. Then his eyes lit up. "Hey, how about a little detour?"

"Don't you think we've had enough on this trip?" I asked.

"Come on, Berkeley's our last university, and there's a full day of driving before tomorrow. We should do something," he said. "Live a little."

I snorted. "Remember what happened last time you said that?"

"We had a lot of fun," he replied.

I laughed. "That wasn't your story thirty seconds ago."

He put a hand over his heart. "I promise to be on my best behavior."

"Alright, alright, fine," I conceded. "What are we doing now?"

"We're going to the beach," he said. I turned to look at the sign behind me, displaying an ad for a renting company for boats on a nearby beach.

"Don't tell me we're going sailing or something too?" I asked.

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of swimming," he replied as we headed back towards the RV.

"I do not even know if I brought a bikini," I muttered. I hadn't planned on doing any swimming on this trip, but I usually packed a swimsuit anyway.

Christian waggled his eyebrows as he held open the door for me. "Skinny dipping. Even better."

I rolled my eyes. "I swear you are determined to get us arrested again."

"Hey, you weren't arrested last time, I was, it's only fair," he said, stepping into the RV behind me.

I turned to face him, pressing my hands against his cheeks so he was looking down at me. "You make absolutely no sense."

He grinned and leaned in, his gaze deep and piercing. "You love it."

I rolled my eyes even as I shivered from his close proximity. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"You know what would really help me sleep at night..." he trailed off.

Trust Christian to make everything s****l.

I turned away and rooted through my bag. Come on, I'm sure it's in here somewhere. "Aha!" I exclaimed, feeling a bit of slick, stretchy material and pulling out my bikini from the bottom of my bag.

He pouted. "I'm a little bit disappointed."

I snorted. "Of course you are," I replied as I made my way to the bathroom to change. I slipped on my bikini, then put on a loose shift dress. "It's probably too cold to swim anyway thou-" I started as I exited the bathroom.

"You keep a diary, Benjamin ?" Christian asked, holding a little brown leather book in his hands.

The journal Damon had asked me to keep for every time I thought about Lucas .

"Hey, you can't read that!" I snapped, grabbing it from him and shoving it to the very bottom of my bag. "Don't go through my stuff!"

He stared at me. "It was on the floor."

"That doesn't give you any right to read it!" For extra measures, I zipped my bag closed and tucked it away in the corner. "How much did you read?"

He held up his hands. "Nothing, chill out."

"I'm not-" I shook my head and sighed. "Let's just go."

"Alright, let me grab my stuff," Christian replied.

I tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling. What even am I doing? Going on a beach date with Christian Harvey? This really isn't what you need, Gigi. "Let's just- it's probably too cold. And we live in California, there are beaches everywhere. Let's just get on the road," I said.

He gave me a long look. "Sure, whatever you say." Then he walked out and around to the front without waiting for my response. I met his eyes in the rear view mirror as he started the RV but quickly looked away, ducking into the bathroom to change back into my regular clothes.

This is the right thing to do.

So why did it feel like s**t?

"I'm going to meet with a friend for dinner," Christian told me, two days later. It was our last night on the road trip. We'd arrived in California on time to see the Berkeley presentation. I had pretended to take a nap after the whole almost-beach incident, Christian stony silence and my own mixed up feelings making me unwilling to try and talk to him or do anything productive.

But after we'd stopped for the night, he'd been back to normal. There'd still been tense silences, but they'd been more from me than him. I hadn't been sure what to say to him, if I should've apologized, or asked to talk about it, or what. I still wasn't sure what the hell I was supposed to do.

I don't know if Christian didn't care as much, or just wasn't as stupidly mixed up as I was, or if he was simply etter at acting like everything was okay.

"Oh." Is it a date?

Even though I'd decided it was bad idea to do anything with Christian I'd still kind of thought we'd spend the last night together. We still had about a half drive, but we also had a couple hours to kill before we officially had to be back.

You don't care if it's a date, Gigi

"Uh, have fun," I told him, with what I hoped was a convincing smile.

"Do you want to come?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I don't want to intrude."

He tucked his hands in his pockets. "It's just Ares. He's trying to convince me to come here by showing me what he claims is the best restaurant on campus. Not a big deal."

I hesitated. There would be another person there, so it wasn't like... It didn't really count as anything, right. "Sure."

The restaurant was in a rustic sort of three story house. It was dimly lit inside, with an open wood ceilings that gave it a warm, homey feel. There was a mix of booths and tables draped in white tablecloths, interspersed with lush green plants in bright gold pots.

And it smelled amazing. Like warm bread, or some sort of baked pie.

Okay, this definitely beats a night alone on the RV.

I recognized Ares Karl from the time I'd bumped into Christian after seeing Lucas. He looked surprised to see me, but thankfully he was seated in a booth, rather than a two person table. Christian allowed to me to slide in across from him before sitting down himself.

"Ares, this Gigi," he said.

"Hey," I replied. "I hope I'm not intruding or anything."

"No, it's fine." He gave me an easy going smile. "It's nice to officially meet you."

I winced at the reminder of the awkward conversation at the diner. Why had I told Christian I was waiting on a date again?

However, despite my awkward first encounter with Karl, dinner went pretty smoothly. We talked about different cuisines and food as we were ordering and he asked us about the different universities we'd visited as we waited for our food.

I couldn't hold back my gasp as the waiter set our plates down in front of us. "It looks so pretty, I almost don't want to eat it." I had gotten a Wild Mushroom Risotto, while Karl had gotten a halibut soup and Christian a tenderloin steak with pomegranate sauce- a custom order.

"You like the weirdest food combinations," I told him. "Fries with mayo and now this?"

He shrugged. "Don't know it until you try it." He cut off a piece and held it out to me. "Wanna try some?"

I hesitated.

"Live a little, Benjamin ," he teased.

"That seems to be your favorite motto of the week," I replied, but leaned forward and took the bit off his fork anyway. I don't think I would ever custom order it myself- I'd probably never order steak to begin with- but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The sweet tartness of the pomegranate actually contrasted the peppercorn seasoning of the tender steak. "Eh, could be better."

Christian shook his head. "You have horrible tastes."

I stared at him and raised an eyebrow.

He grinned. Other than me, he mouthed.

I flushed, and feeling eyes on me, glanced over at Ares who was watching us with a keen, almost knowing eye. He flashed me a quick smile when he met my eyes and asked Jacen something about a mutual friend.

Halfway through dessert, Jacen's phone buzzed. I felt it since his leg was pressed up against mine and he pulled it out to check the screen. "It's Ash," he said as he stood up. "I'll be right back." He headed outside to take the call, leaving me alone with Ares

I stared down as I took a bit of my lemon tart, not wanting to look up into Ares piercing eyes. I felt like he'd been subtly watching Jacen and I the entire dinner, somehow seeing something, or reading into something about us, though I wasn't sure what he was so fascinated by.

"So," Ares said, leaning forward and planting his elbows on the table. "I've never seen Christian share his favorite foods with anyone."

What? "Oh." Yeah, I really needed to work on my speaking skills.

"What's going on with you two?" he asked.

I took another bite and chewed slowly to give myself some time to formulate an answer. "Why don't you ask him?" I replied, taking a page out of Christian’s book. Answer a question with a question.

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Ares raised an eyebrow. "Why not just ask you?"

"Does it matter?" I tried again.

"Christian is a good friend. I just wanna look out for him," Ares said.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"So, nothing's going on?"

I hesitated, then shook my head. I didn't want to lie to Ares, since he was Christian’s friend and he seemed nice, but I had no idea what was going on with Christian and I either so I was almost as clueless as he was. Or maybe I was more clueless than he was, since he'd been observing us all evening.

"Are you guys just hooking up or something?"

I choked at his blunt question, even though there wasn't anything in my mouth. "It's not- I mean-" I sighed. "I guess, we're kind of using each other to get over our ex's," I admitted.

Nathan frowned. "Christian doesn't have an ex."

"Maybe not, he said something about a girl betraying him?" I twisted my hands together under the table as I focused on a point just beside his head.

His frown deepened, then he straightened and sat back with an "Oh."

I guess he'd figured it out then?

"And you're okay with it?"

I shrugged. "I mean- it's not serious or anything." I felt like a kid trying to explain themselves to a parent. "It's just-" I shrugged again instead of answering.

Ares opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, his eyes darting over my shoulder. Christian sat down a moment later. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Christian shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

He seemed subdued for the rest of the meal though, creating a sort of tense silence since I wasn't sure where I stood with Ares. I felt like he didn't like me, or approve of whatever the f**k I was doing with Christian , but I couldn't blame him since it was kind of weird and he was just looking out for his friend. They talked about something, but I couldn't find it within myself to participate with more than a couple words, Ares question looping over and over in my head.

Christian didn't say anything to me as we walked back to the RV but as soon as we stepped inside, I found myself pressed against the wall, his mouth on mine. I gasped at the sudden aggressiveness, curling my hands into his shirt as his tongue licked along my bottom lip. He ground his hips and I could feel him pressing into me.

"Wait," I panted. I forced myself to loosen the grasp I had on his shirt and pushed him back a bit. "We need to talk."

"Really don't feel like talking," he replied, brushing feathery kisses down my neck. I squirmed when he sucked on a particularly sensitive area and bit down lightly.

Ooh, that feels good.

Focus, Gigi!

"Yeah, I can tell."

There must have been something in my tone that made him realize I was being serious, because his head snapped up and he pulled away. "Sure you wanna go down this road, Benjamin ?" he asked with a slight smirk, though his eyes weren't as light as the playful words. "Heart to hearts ruin the mood faster than anything else."

I hesitated. It would be so easy to just forget about it all, just go with wherever we were going.

Well, it's not really questionable where you're going.

I could just forget all about Ares words. I didn't even know what I was going to say, how I could bring them up, if I would.

Why ruin something that's going just fine?

But I had buried my head in the sand before and nearly suffocated for it.

"I- What are we?" I blurted out.

He stated at me, brow furrowed. "What?"

I pulled my hands away from him completely, twisting them together. "Do you ever- just what are we doing?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What's with the sudden need to talk about us?" he asked instead of answering. Classic Christian . "You getting feelings, Benjamin ?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "No- that's not it."

I'm not, right?

Right.

The smirk stayed on his face, but his eyes narrowed slightly. "Ouch, I'm just that awful, huh?"

"It's not- I-" I stopped and took a deep breath. "That's not the point." The ask instead of answer always worked for him. I let myself get distracted again.

He shrugged, taking a step back completely. "Why put a label on it? Doesn't that just f**k everything up?"

"Don't you think we're pretty f****d up already?" I asked. I couldn't look him in the eye as I said it, so I focused instead on a little splatter of paint over his shoulder on the wall behind him.

"Because we're f*****g?" he replied harshly. "It's just s*x, Gigi."

I nearly flinched. "We're using each other, aren't we? To get over other people."

"That's what your losing it over? Everyone does it."

But not everyone's relationship is as f****d up as mine and Lucas was. And not everyone was as f****d up as me and Christian seemed to be.

"Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it isn't f****d up." And it doesn't mean it's not even more messed up when we do it.

Being twice as messed up doesn't make something normal.

Does that even make sense?

Like two wrongs don't make a right.

He stared at me, then his eyes narrowed. "What did Ares say to you?"

"What?" Instinctively, I glanced away. I hadn't expected him to relate it to Ares, so I wasn't able to cover my initial reaction. Hopefully he just took it as surprise. "He didn't say anything."

"Then why the sudden need to define it and talk about it?" he demanded.

"Maybe I just actually thought about how f****d up this is!" I exclaimed. I wasn't really lying, anyway, I'd had doubts before tonight, but Ares questioning had just kind of reinforced it.

"Look, don't listen to Ares if he said anything," he told me. "He just doesn't know how to mind his own business."

I threw my hands up. "It's not about what he said!"

Christian eyes narrowed. "So he did say something."

"No- Uh- Fine, yeah he did," I admitted. "But that doesn't make any less true."

"What, are you scared of how it all appears to other people or something?" he asked. I almost flinched at his harsh tone.

"It just- it seems like such a bad idea," I tried to explain. It didn't make any sense, whatever we were doing, hooking up, messing around or just straight up f*****g, whatever you wanted to call it. And trying to explain it and all the reasons was just worse.

"Why does it matter how it seems?" His hand slammed against the wall, and this time I couldn't help it I flinched. Christian jaw clenched, his expression hardening. Shutting down. "Do you still think I'm going to hurt you?" he gritted out.

I shook my head, but my words still came out as a whisper, as if I was afraid of setting him off. Maybe I was. I felt so tangled up that I wasn't even really sure anymore. "If it actually meant something," I choked out. "But we're just using each other."

"We agreed to no feelings, Georgia ," he said, his expression dark.

I shook my head again. "Just forget it. Let's just go. I'll drive."

It was when he handed me the keys without any kind of protest that I knew something broke between us. I mean, we were never whole or anything to begin with, we were pretty f****d up, but I knew that whatever pieces had sort of, temporarily tied us together had just shattered.

I ducked my head as I got out to walk around to the front, wiping away a traitorous tear from my cheek. This is a good thing, I reminded myself. It's not like it would've gone anywhere, or been anything, or whatever. It was just f*****g with your head.

I started the RV, glancing in the side view mirror to I back out so I could avoid Christian’s gaze. If he was even looking at me, that is.

This is a good thing, I repeated as I pulled onto the road to back