Secrets of a Billionaire

Chapter 2

Amanda’s POV

“Girl, you’re so much better off without that leech!” My best friend Serena tells me bluntly over the pounding music that same evening at the club we occasionally like to go to. She had to talk pretty loudly in order to be heard.

“We did try to warn you,” my other bestie Harley pipes up, in between sips of her Long Island iced tea.

“Yeah, I know you did,” I say, trying not to feel depressed as I sip my own drink, a minty tasting lime mojito. “Well, there’s no going back now. I’ve moved out and moved on. The only thing left in the apartment is all of Rick’s s**t, and a note on the counter saying he has until the end of the month to leave unless he can somehow pay next month’s rent.”

We all laugh at that. Everyone is aware he doesn’t even have two cents to rub together, let alone enough cash for the posh luxury apartment I’d been renting in Portland’s posh Pearl District. I’ve already talked with Charlene about that, and she says she will be more than happy to evict his sorry ass if he doesn’t hand over his keys by the deadline.

“Now we just gotta get you a good f**k buddy for the night, to remind you that there’s plenty of d***s out there waiting for you!” Harley suggests, looking around the club at the few potential candidates already present this early in the evening. One group of guys just walked in, all of them drop dead gorgeous. But they don’t look all that happy to be here for some reason. One even looks like he might have been crying. Serena suggests going over to them and seeing if we can get some action. I’m not sure about this, but I let Harley and Serena drag me over.

“Hey, guys!” Serena says in her most seductive sounding voice. “Do you mind if we join you?”

Several eyes turn towards us. They are probably checking out Serena, with her kinky dark hair, light brown skin, and curvy bod, or possibly Harley with her blonde hair and girl next door looks. I always feel plain in comparison, my body too thin, my skin too pale, and my hair just a plain dark brown. My only nice features are my pretty blue eyes and my naturally straight teeth, in my opinion.

“Sure, my name is Jered,” one of the guys happily agrees and invites us to sit down. One of the guys jumps up right away to grab some chairs. Jared starts pointing out the other guys and introducing them to us. “Tim there is happily married, Mark just found his fiancé boinking his best man the night before his wedding, and Nolan is in an open relationship.”

“Exactly how open is this relationship?” Harley asks, sitting down next to Nolan. “Does your wife or lover know that the relationship is open?”

“Yes, my wife knows and actually joins in if that interests you at all…” Nolan replies with a shy but very sexy smile.

“It might,” Harley replies, and then they continue chatting as if they’ve known each other for years.

The one named Mark is barely looking up from his beer, but I notice he has classic good looks with wavy dark brown hair, broad shoulders as if he works out regularly, and chocolate brown eyes. I feel like we at least have something in common, since we’re obviously both going through a breakup and unlikely to be looking for anything long term. He seems like a safe choice.

I sit down between Nolan and Mark while Serena introduces herself, and I, then she tells my story. You’d think I’d be the one telling the story, since that’s sort of what I do for a living. I’m a children’s author, though, so my work rarely includes the sort of drama and betrayal that I’ve experienced in my own life recently. But I tend to be kind of introverted, so it’s OK.

“Clubs aren’t really my thing,” Mark tells me, barely looking up from his suddenly empty beer mug. “But the guys insisted that we go out and get me drunk.”

“Same,” I respond, just as the waitress brings Mark another beer. “Well, no. That’s a lie. My friends didn’t bring me here to get drunk. They said they wanted to get me some good d**k!”

Mark spews out the beer he had almost swallowed, and everyone around starts laughing out loud. I personally didn’t find it all that amusing, though.

“Honesty. That’s refreshing,” Mark grumbles bitterly. “Maybe you should have been my Fiancé instead of that b***h Corina.”

“How many drinks have you had?” I ask, noticing that his voice was slightly slurred.

“Three I think,” Mark says, sounding unsure. “Yeah, that’s right! This one is my fourth. We had a few at another bar first. So… do you wanna hook up?”

I was just about to decline that most generous offer when I hear a familiar voice behind me.

“Mandy!” Rick comes right up to my face and gets in my business, angry, as if he had any right to be. “I saw your little note. You and I need to talk, right now!”

“Hey, this is my hook up, go find your own!” Mark says, standing up and I’m happy to see he’s at least 4 inches taller than Rick.

“She’s my girlfriend!” Rick says, not wanted to back down despite being intimidated by the much taller and buffer dude.

“Ex, Rick! I have been your ex girlfriend from the moment you started to use my credit cards to steal from me like a f*****g thief!” I say, standing up next to Mark. I’m wearing heels, which Rick never liked because he’s always insecure about his 5 foot 8 frame when I’m looking like I’m taller than him instead of just one inch shorter. “How was your trip to Vegas?”

“The guys were mad at me and refused to spot me any cash,” he responds angrily, just as I knew he would. “I had to come home, thanks to you!”

“That was your own fault, and you know it!” I remind him. “You’re a thief, a momma’s boy, and a horrible roommate. We are SO done!”

Everyone around me agrees, even people not at our table. People begin telling Rick to get lost or calling him a loser. I’m certainly not going to disagree with any of that!

“This is bullshit,” he says, trying to grab my hand. “Let’s go somewhere else and talk.”

“No!” I say, yanking my hand out of his. “How did you find me here anyway?”

He refuses to tell me, but Mark asks me to open my phone and hand it to him. Then he apparently turns off the share location button.

“Just as I thought,” he says, handing my phone back to me. “There, that should keep him from stalking you! Let’s you and me get out of here.”

I look over at my besties, but they shoo me away, having found their own hook ups for the night. Serena was already making out with Jered, and Harley was actually sitting in Nolan’s lap. Tim, who happens to be a big beefy guy, offers to mess Rick up if he tries to follow us.

“Really?” I mouth to Harley, whom it sounded was on her way out the door for a threesome with Nolan and his wife. She nods happily to me, and then we are all headed for the door, Rick standing there looking like a large mouth bass in our wake. Well, I’m certainly glad that fish got away, and that there are plenty of others in the deep blue sea.

Mark takes me to a very nice looking new Tesla.

“Are you OK to drive?” I ask. “My new apartment is just a few blocks away, if you don’t mind the walk.”

“Do you always take unknown men to your place?” Mark asks, so I’m guessing he thinks I’m pretty stupid.

“It’s a secure building. They don’t let just anyone in there,” I tell him truthfully. “Or would you rather we go back to your place?”

“No, my ex is still there. She probably isn’t done f*****g my now ex best friend the f*****g night before our f*****g wedding!” He says, kicking the tire of his car in anger. Then he sits down on the ground and leans up against the side of his car, looking deflated. “And I’m definitely drunk.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be interested in going to a wedding with me tomorrow, then,” I say, sitting down on the ground next to him. “My brother’s getting married. Rick was supposed to be my plus one, but that’s obviously not going to happen now.”

“It just so happens that I have a tuxedo rental that will otherwise go to waste,” Mark tells me dryly. “I had just picked it up from the rental place and was dropping it off at home before the rehearsal when I saw my best friends car in my driveway and found him in bed with my… my… s**t!”

Damn it, he was actually crying!

“Come on,” I tell him, standing up and taking his hand. “Let’s go to my place. This is obviously not going to be anything beyond that of a rebound relationship, if it even becomes anything at all.”

“True,” he agrees, and I don’t think he even notices the direction we are going or even registers when we head into the building or the elevator. I can tell that Mark is trying desperately not to break down completely.

“It’s a bit of a mess,” I warn him as we enter my apartment. “I only just moved in this afternoon. But at least I did make the bed.”

“I’m sure everything is fine,” he says, then asks where the toilet is. Next thing I know he makes a beeline in the direction of my bathroom and begins puking up his guts very noisily.

“Five!” I suddenly hear him declare. “I remember now, it was five beers! Oh god!”

And then more lovely sounds of puking. Yeah, this random hook up is going to be the stuff of legends, I can tell.