The Billionaire's Bitch

Pt. 2 Thirty-Nine

Three days passed.

I stayed holed up in the hotel, afraid to so much as step foot outside.

I told Lyndsey I was taking a break from my phone and I put it away in my purse. I was officially in hiding, and I was getting a lot of writing done because of it.

My favorite spot to write, I found, was the armchair at the end of the hall from my room.

It had good lighting and a nice little table to set my drink. A potted ficus in the corner kept me company.

I wrote more in those three days than I had in the last few months. It was amazing, I was getting so much done.

For the first time in a long time, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The conclusion to my paranormal fantasy novel, "Diablerie", was finally revealing itself to me and it excited me beyond my wildest expectations.

I'd been lost in the middle for so long.

Now, I felt like I heading in the right direction. I anticipated finishing in a crazed rush of adrenaline, both euphoric and overwhelming.

That's how it usually was for me when I was finishing a book, anyway, and none had meant half as much to me as this project.

Emailing my writer friend, Dani, was my main source of social contact these days. My dear friend was incredibly supportive of my dilemma, in a way that Lyndsey simply couldn't, not being an artist herself.

Dani got it.

She was shocked and outraged for me as to what Adrian had done; sending my work out without my permission.

'I would never do that to you, or anyone!' She informed me passionately.

I smiled to myself and assured her that I already knew that. Dani didn't need to control people the way Adrian did; she wasn't that insecure. She also wasn't arrogant enough to believe she always knew what was best for someone.

Over the course of our correspondence, she again offered to connect me with her agent. She asked me if I'd like Eliza to recommend one of her colleagues to me.

This was beyond exciting and I deeply appreciated being asked.

For some reason, accepting Dani's help being published didn't bother me at all, maybe because I wasn't sleeping with Dani. She was my friend and she cared about me.

I wasn't sure Adrian cared about anyone but himself.

But then I immediately felt bad when I let that ugly thought slip through; thinking of Ty. Poor Ty, who adored his father so much.

Poor Ty, who had the bad luck of having billionaires for parents. He would never know what it was to be normal.

Then a truly horrific thought came over me like a chilling mist. Adrian had lost both his parents to suicide.

How miserable both Adrian and Tiffany seemed flashed through my mind.

What if history somehow repeated itself? Poor Ty!

My tender heart had clenched up, but I shook myself and shoved these thoughts away. Tiffany and Adrian were both tough; they were too mean and stubborn to give up. They wouldn't want to give anyone the potential satisfaction from it.

Still, the idea of losing Adrian entirely haunted me for the rest of the evening.

I curled up in my favorite spot and tried to bury myself in my work. But something felt different tonight.

I felt more restless. Being cooped up in the hotel couldn't be good for me. I was going all "Shining" on myself.

All work and no play makes Eve a dull girl...

That night, I finished a big, pivotal scene in my story. It was highly emotional for me and I felt drained afterwards, though somehow still mentally restless.

After my nightly shower, I caved and finally looked at my phone for the first time in days.

I had a good amount of messages to feed my ego.

Granted, most of them were from my sister, and one was from my mom, asking me about Christmas, but I had a few from friends, as well. Old friends now, I should say. A couple were from new friends; coworkers, I guess you could call them. Gabbi and Joe were good peeps and had both wanted to check on me after I hadn't come to work in almost a week.

People had gotten used to seeing me around the building, apparently. That felt good. Honestly, I was going to miss it there. Maybe I already did.

Finally, I came upon it; the message stream from Adrian.

He hadn't sent me quite as many messages as one might hope. Three, to be exact.

The first after the last he'd sent read thusly, in a tone of palpable impatience, 'I do not recall you turning in your two weeks' notice, Ms. Mathers. I expect you back at work ASAP.'

I pursed my lips and continued scrolling back to the bottom.

The second message had an even more harried cast. 'Are you being deliberately cruel, not answering your phone? I don't recall being deliberately cruel to you. I'm officially worried.'

That one made me feel slightly bad, though it was fucking bullshit that he wasn't cruel and he knew it.

The last message was the shortest one and it really managed to tug at my heart strings.

'Please talk to me.'

Was I being overly cruel?

But no, I shook myself. He was cruel and I couldn't let him get into my head. Again.

I had to stay strong.

In any event, I found myself texting him back. It was a brief, concise message without a trace of embellishment.

'Didn't you get the memo? I quit.'

I pressed Send, then, like the little yellow-bellied coward I was, I turned my phone off again and tossed it back in the drawer.

This would really piss him off, I knew, but I'd also decided that I didn't care.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One more chapter and that's all Yours Truly wrote, beoships!

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HRH