Warming the Billionaire’s Bed

Chapter 2- Stranger

Six months ago.

“Congratulations, New Fare High batch 2019!”

Everyone cheered and clapped as soon as our school administrator gave the closing address and announced the conclusion of our high school graduation ceremony. I grinned wide as I glanced at my high school buddies Sophie, Leila, and Cedrick.

“At last!” I hugged each of them with tears in my eyes. Sophie, Leila, and Cedrick were my closest friends throughout high school. And I couldn’t believe that our school days were over and we would enter the next stage of our lives as teenagers.

“We made it!” Sophie giggled, “Congratulations, guys,”

“Thank you! And we are going to miss you, ladies, and this friendship,” Cedrick said, smiling at Leila and us.

“I know,” I sadly agreed, puckering.

My friends Cedrick and Leila were moving away tonight. Leila was accepted into one of the best universities in New York. She would be taking a pre-medical course while Cedrick, her fiancé, planned to skip school to help her pay for college. He recently got a job as a bartender and server at one of the city’s hotels.

“Aww… don’t be sad,” Leila poked my waist, “We are just a state away, and you can always visit us, right baby?” she added, looking at Cedrick.

“Absolutely! We will see each other often,” Cedrick wiggled his brows.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

Sophie and I would be moving away too to New Jersey for college. Two years ago, Sophie and her brother Sawyer relocated to our town to assist their grandma when she was sick. The siblings were from the Jersey shore.

Now that Sawyer had found a job back in New Jersey and their Grandma would be moving to Florida to live with their aunt, Sophie planned to follow her brother and continue her studies there.

Sophie convinced me to try it out since she knew what kind of shithole I lived in every day. I agreed in a heartbeat. I applied to our chosen university, and so far, we haven’t received any results, but we were optimistic that we would get an answer soon.

Even though I was sad that we would part ways, my heart was rejoicing. Soon I would be leaving the town that had become my living hell ever since my father died.

The only people that I would miss here were Nana Delia and Justin. But the latter had his plans after his wedding, so it would only be the old lady who had cared for me since I arrived in Pennsylvania five years ago. Thomas had been living abroad in France for years now, so it was fine.

“Eli, you're spacing out on us again,” Leila nudged me.

I smiled at them, “Sorry. I… I just need to go home early today,” I mumbled, quickly remembering the occasion that would be happening tomorrow.

“Oh, f**k! Yes! Tomorrow is Justin’s wedding to that b***h, right?!” Sophie gasped.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I confirmed, “It would only be a small gathering, but they needed help with some stuff today,”

“But you just graduated! You mean you are alone today!?” Cedrick asked.

I winced, nodding. “Nana Delia wanted to join me, but she was too busy attending to my step-mom and evil future sister-in-law, Scarlett,” I bluntly answered.

My brother never really wanted to get married, but he chose to tie a knot with Scarlett for our dad’s remaining business to merge the company with her parents.

“I’m so sorry,” Sophie muttered, giving me another hug, “Soon, girl,”

“Yup, soon!” I smiled, “Like in five days!”

“Yes! In five days! Your birthday!” Cedrick reminded me. Indeed, it would be my nineteenth birthday in the next five days.

“We need to celebrate it!” Leila giggled.

“Yes, once you settled yourselves in the big apple, why not?” I unflappably said.

Sophie rolled her eyes at me, “We will be in NJ that day, so yes! We will celebrate it there, silly girl,” she snorted.

“Fine! Now let’s go!” I scoffed, looking at our friends and classmates taking photos and celebrating with their families and friends.

All four of us had a common denominator in life. We had no complete family we could call. Cedrick and Leila had already lived on their own since our first-year students’ days. Sophie was with her brother, Sawyer, and her grandma, Betty.

I might look the luckiest one since my so-called family was one of the city’s wealthiest families, but I just lived an ordinary life—the bastard daughter of the late Ernest Houston. I still worked my ass off to get my monthly allowance. Dad had left a will, but I wouldn’t acquire it until I was twenty-one.

I was just blessed that my brothers were always there for me.

After mingling and saying goodbye to our friends and teachers, we parted ways and went on our own. Like me, Sophie’s brother Sawyer was at work so he couldn’t come to celebrate with her. Since I was in a hurry, I had to leave her and celebrate with Cedrick and Leila. We would get in touch as soon as the wedding was over.

While driving back home, I couldn’t help but think about what I would need to prepare soon. Sophie and I would get an apartment near our future school, which was why we were leaving in five days and on my birthday.

“Yup! five more days, Elisha Noelle Houston,” I mumbled to myself, “You will not see Devyn the devil anymore.” Even though we haven’t had any answers from our target college, that wouldn’t stop me from leaving this town.

The lady brought so much pain to my heart. If it weren’t mental torture, she would physically hurt me whenever she felt frustrated. Devyn wasn’t like that when dad was alive. She never warmed up as my older brothers did, but she treated me fairly.

Justin was the eldest. He was ten years older than me, while Thomas and I had a seven-year age gap. The former used to handle our family business with our dad’s help, but as soon as our father died, the company almost left with him as well. Devyn decided to make arrangements with Scarlett’s parents, pushing my brother to make a hasty decision.

On the other hand, Thomas was just fulfilling his dream. He had been living in Paris for years and had no plan yet to come home. Aside from his master’s in law, he was already practicing his profession all over France, mainly in business law.

Between the two, I was closer to Tom. Justin was always out and busy with his own business.

*Ring Ring*

The sudden ring on my phone brought me back to my senses. Pressing the answer button, I heard my brother Thomas’ voice echoing inside the car. “Congratulations, Eli!”

“Thomas!!”

“Oui! How are you? Are you celebrating with your friends?” Thomas asked.

“Hey… no… I’m driving home,” I quickly replied.

“Wait, why did you answer my call? I’ll call you later, silly girl,” Thomas reprimanded me.

“No! It’s fine. It’s connected to your car, and I am already driving slow,” I reasoned out. He knew it because it was his car.

“Okay, just be careful, oui?”

“Oui, monsieur,”

“Now. Where are we?” Thomas asked.

“I’m driving home and not celebrating,” I answered.

“Yes, yes… why so?”

“Justin’s wedding is tomorrow,” I reminded Thomas, “There will be a party, and Nana said mom needed me,”

“Goddamit, of course, it’s his wedding,” Thomas chuckled, “And I will see him tomorrow,” he added.

“What? Is he ditching Scarlett?!” I asked in disbelief. I didn’t even think that Thomas would be home for the wedding.

“Nope, he has no plan to consummate the marriage with her. Instead, he will backpack and fly to France after the wedding,” Thomas answered. ‘Damn. My brothers got a wise plan.’

“I got it,” I chuckled, “Mom will be joining her for their honeymoon then,” I kidded.

Thomas laughed. “Exactly.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Yes,” Thomas continued laughing with me, “Anyway, aside from congratulating you, I called to say I wired you some money to buy stuff. Graduation gift, and it’s your birthday soon, plus I know your plans to move out of the house,” he added.

My eyes went wide after hearing what Thomas said. “Oh, no! You didn’t need to, Tom,” I protested, “I know you just moved to your new apartment and shouldered Nana Delia’s hospital bills,” Nana Delia’s insurance didn’t cover her illness this time. Mom didn’t care about it, so Tom had to help them.

Tom was such a generous and caring brother. He just loved spoiling me with stuff like giving me gifts or sometimes money to use for myself. For most of the monthly allowance I received, I saved them for my future plans.

I always wanted to become a teacher, and I desired to get my teaching degree at a good university that would eventually help me land a great spot in any school.

I knew something was in store for me when I reached twenty-one, but I wasn’t expecting much. I tried to live a normal life just like how I was when I moved here from the outskirts of Manhattan. Life was difficult there, and I was thankful I had left five years earlier.

“Don’t mind me, Eli. I can always manage,” Tom lovingly said, “Just avoid mom as much as you can,” he advised.

My brothers were all aware of their mom’s actions toward me in the past. It wasn’t that they didn’t help me. They did and now believed that mom had stopped hurting me. I never told them about it since I didn’t want to cause any trouble with mom.

“Soon as I move out, I’ll be fine,” I replied, “But thank you, Tom. Love you,”

“No biggies, silly Eli. Love you, sis,” I heard Tom chuckle on the other side, “Anyway, I also wanted to tell you that I dyed my hair back,” he shared. “I wish you could see it, but you’re driving,”

“Aww… I want to see it!” I said before checking my hair in the rear-view mirror. It was still black, but it started to grow my natural ginger shade. Like Tom, Dad and Justin, we all possessed this bright auburn color. Tom and I loved dyeing it so we wouldn’t get much attention from the crowd.

“Will send it later,”

“Sweet. Yes, maybe I need to wash off the color and go back to auburn again,” I said, softly caressing my thick long hair.

“You should.”

Tom and I spoke for a little more before he bade goodnight. He convinced me to maybe go with Justin and travel for a while, waiting for my spot at the university.

Of course, I politely said no. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, but I was more focused on my dream school. I received a fair grade in high school, and my GPA was high enough to be accepted to which school I wanted.

I was driving along, jiving to the music, when I suddenly recalled Nana Delia’s request. She needed the dog food that she used to get from our normal grocer for our dogs, Tsu and Tzi. They ran out of goods before I left this morning, but I had already driven past the store, so I drove to a familiar nearby store on my way home.

Slowing down, I decided to pull up to the nearby convenience store to find their usual brand. I carefully turned to my right on the curbside when a dog crossed the road. I stepped on the brakes so forcefully that I almost smashed my face on the driving wheel. “Damn!” I breathed deeply.

Just when I was about to recover, my car jolted once more. “f**k!” I screamed. I knew right then and there that someone had just rear-ended my vehicle. It was so hard that I felt my body jerk, hitting my head on the wheel. “Ouch,” I winced, feeling the pain on my forehead. I checked it in the rear-view mirror and noticed a red bruise forming.

I knew it was my fault after all.

Pulling the handbrake, I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt to check my car’s damage. “Damn…” My eyes gaped as I saw how terrible it was. The back bumper broke in two. “I’m fucked.”

“Oh, God… Miss, are you okay?!” I suddenly heard a deep baritone voice ask me. I looked at him, still scowling from the shock I had received. “Damn… You’re hurt….let me take you to the hospital,” he worriedly offered.

I didn’t know what had happened to me. I was speechless. Soon as he walked closer and held my arm and shoulder, I got stunned and petrified. “Oh…” I looked up at this tall figure and saw the mesmerizing amber eyes behind the thick lashes and knitting brows.

“I’m… I’m okay….” I murmured, still looking at him, “It..its… my fault….” Taking away my eyes from him this time.

“No, you are not. You got a bruise,” the man said once more. I quickly held my forehead and flinched.

“Yeah, it’s fine….” I repeated, composing back myself, looking at the barely hanging bumper. “My brother is going to kill me,” I muttered.

“Oh, it’s okay. I’ll handle it,” the stranger spoke again. “But are you sure you are okay?”

“No, but I can handle it too, though I need that one inside the car,” I simply answered without looking at the stranger. I wasn’t sure, but his stares were doing something to me that I couldn’t explain.

“Okay. Hold on a second,” he mumbled before running towards the convenience store. My eyes just followed him. About a minute later, he came out with a cold can of beer. “Here,” he said, giving me the can. “There’s no ice available, so I just took this,”

“Oh, thank you. But I am okay,” I hesitated to take the can as I tried to avoid his eyes.

“Please…” He pleaded, taking my hand before giving me the ice-cold can.

“Fine,” I finally agreed, damping the can on my bruised forehead. I closed my eyes and winced in pain. Seconds later, I heard a noise and brought my attention to it. I saw the stranger completely remove the bumper and smile at me.

“Would you open the trunk for me?” He softly asked.

“Sure…” I nodded, returning to the driver’s seat and lifting the trunk’s switch handle. I saw him putting the dusty bumper inside and closing the cover after. He then dusted his hands after pulling his white sleeves back.

“Skylar Owens, but you can call me Kyle,” I saw a hand extending in front of me.

‘Nice name,’ I inwardly commented. It took me a while to receive his hand. “Elisha Houston,” I finally said, shaking it. His hand was warm and sizeable, sending shivers to my skin.

“Elisha, I’m sorry about it. I was busy on my phone and didn’t see you in front of me,” Kyle apologized. I saw the sincerity in his beautiful eyes.

“No, it’s my fault. That silly dog suddenly crossed the road. I pressed the brake too hard,” I admitted, finally finding the courage to look at him straight. I took my time to ogle him. His thick brown hair was tousled back, making him gorgeous in my eyes. His pearly whites were flashing, screaming wealth as I noticed how perfectly aligned they were.

“Oh, but it’s still my fault,” Kyle sneered, “By the way. May I get your number? I will let my driver get in touch with you regarding this mess that I made,” he concernedly added.

“Oh, sure. Here,” I quickly took my phone inside the car before exchanging numbers with him. “Thomas will kill me if I don’t get it fixed on time,” I told. I knew Thomas wouldn’t hurt me, but I really felt bad about what happened.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay for everything,” Kyle replied, “Oh, and by the way, you said you’re a Houston?” he checked, eyes squinting at me.

“Ahm… yes..” I nodded.

“Thomas Houston?”

“My brother,”

“Is it a Thomas Houston who lives in France by any chance?” Kyle curiously asked me again.

“I guess that’s him,” I nodded. "Did you know him?"

"I heard about him."

"Sweet,"

“Yes, sweet indeed….” Kyle mumbled, slowly nodding. “Anyway, Elisha. It’s great to see you. And I am really sorry about what happened,” he added, smiling again.

“Thanks, Kyle,” I beamed, still pressing the cold can on my forehead.