The Billionaire's Bitch

Thirty-Six

"Sooo...what you wanna do, buddy?" I asked Ty bracingly. "Your dad gave me his credit card so we can do whatever we want." I was nervous and I realized in the aftermath that I probably shouldn't have told him about the credit card, not that the kid would even understand.

"You wanna go to the zoo? The aquarium? We could check out the mall or see a movie or go get some ice cream...?" I was thinking about stuff we did with Lyndsey's kids, but I was running out of ideas.

"I wanna go to the library!" He announced firmly, much to my surprise, but also to my great relief.

###

It was easier to spend the afternoon with the kid than I could have ever hoped. He was a mature, calm, quiet little thing, though I noticed he had developed a sharp tongue already, just like his father.

We went to the downtown Chicago Public Library, which was gorgeous, and I helped him hunt around for a comic book he was looking for.

"Alan Moore?" I gasped when he told me what he was looking for. "That's pretty rough stuff for a kid your age, isn't it?"

This seemed to please him. "No one cares what I read." He shrugged, going back to browsing the wall of comics. "I come here a lot in the daytime when I don't have tutoring lessons." He told me, glancing at Kane, who was over by the opening wall to the lobby to keep a close eye on everyone coming and going. The tall, intimidating man didn't talk much, but after the night before, I found his presence comforting.

"Sometimes I even sneak out and come here alone." Ty confessed to me then in a whisper and my eyes widened.

"Wow, look at you. Rebel with a cause."

This made him chuckle, and then immediately after he frowned, as if suspicious of my ability to make him laugh. He turned away from me to continue his browsing.

I got another text from my sister just then; a pic of her in the red-orange dress she'd chosen for her date tonight with Roger. I sent her an encouraging thumbs up emoji.

Having found a suitable stack of comics for himself, Ty settled into an armchair beside me and began to quietly read.

What a freakin' miracle this kid was. Lyndsey wished Ronnie had any interest in reading anything that wasn't on a cereal box. Chloe liked to read, bless her, but I highly doubted she was coming all the way out here to the downtown library by herself yet, and she was 11.

Ty was only 8.

What a little terror he would be soon.

I smiled fondly, though, as I observed his head of curly hair bent studiously over his Alan Moore comic, which seemed much too big a book for him.

What a thing, to grow up with billions of dollars in a trust fund waiting for you, with private tutors and a bodyguard.

I had grown up in a lower middleclass family with a mortgage and two kids to worry about, several passive aggressive cats, and some very needy dogs. There wasn't always a lot to go around at Christmas and we each only got about $10,000.00 for college. Still, my parents had loved me and had made sure I knew they loved me whenever they could.

Ty seemed so lonely that it broke my heart.

They ought to send him to school so he could make some friends, at least.

I had read a lot, too, as a kid. It had been an escape from the real world, from the pain of not fitting in all the time at school, or feeling misunderstood by the world in general.