SEDUCING THE BILLIONAIRE

Chapter 20

“She looks beautiful, doesn’t she?”
Duke was seated by the poolside under the shade with Jerome and one other friend. He was hosting a pool party. It was Connie’s birthday party in disguise, she had been hounding him saying she wanted a party by the pool with a small catering team grilling for them and mixing drunks but Duke couldn’t make it very obvious that it was Connie’s birthday party when the party would be at his house with Audrey around so he had told her that it was just a party to hang out with friends.
Audrey had come out in a two-piece bikini and laid down on a chaise with sunglasses on.
“You mean because she’s lost weight?” Jerome tried to keep a straight face as he spoke, not wanting to betray his emotions. He hated that she had lost so much weight.
“Yeah, she looks perfect.” He continued, Jerome subtly rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink “let me go over there and put sunscreen on her” he put his drink down and reached for the sunscreen but before he could walk over Connie walked up to him.
“Oh my gosh, DK!” she squealed as she almost jumped on him, arms around his neck “thank you thank you thank you so much, it’s gorgeous.”
Everyone was staring while trying to look like they’re not staring as he slowly pulled away from her, wondering why she was acting like that when they had agreed to keep it friendly.
“… The cake is just perfect.” She said as a big four tier cake was brought around. Of course, he knew about the birthday cake, he had paid for it, but they had agreed that it would be delivered to her house, not to his.

She had the attention she wanted, and now everyone knew it was her birthday party. Some of Duke’s friends tried to cover for him even though they could clearly see what was going on.
“He’s always been a great friend, Connie begged to host her birthday here, and he agreed” one mentioned casually to some guests.
“And who wouldn’t want to host their birthday here? It’s beautiful” another friend added, and some guests agreed with the two guys.
They also spread the rumour that Connie’s inner circle had contributed to buying the cake for her, but Duke’s contribution was higher.
“And why not? He’s the billionaire among us” they had said, and some people were eating up the lies while a few were very suspicious. Especially since they hadn’t seen Audrey really involved in the celebrations or hanging out with Duke.
The party ended around 16:00hrs as Connie wanted to have a part 2 celebration at a club which had recently opened, she was taking only her closest friends. Duke told her that he would meet her there but had already given her some money so that they could get started without him.
After every guest had left, Audrey had gone up to take a shower, and when she came out clad in her towel, she found Duke sitting at the edge of her bed. Without even addressing or acknowledging his presence, she walked over into the walk-in closet and started picking an outfit to change into.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked her, following. “I’ve been trying to talk to you all day, spend some time with you, but you’ve been ignoring me.”
“I wouldn’t wanna disrupt your girlfriend’s birthday celebrations” answered Audrey “besides, we have nothing to talk about.”
“We used to be friends Audrey, what happened?”
“Can you excuse me? Am trying to get dressed.”
“You never cared before. You used to get naked in front of me.”
“I learnt my lesson” she gave him a condescending smile “now please excuse me” she insisted until he moved away from the closet and went to sit by the dressing table.

Audrey changed into a tank top and sweatpants, there was a full length mirror in the walk-in closet and as she looked at herself she let out a weary sigh, she missed her hips and ass, sure some people loved this, she was getting compliments but she hated it, she missed her body, sure it came with a not-so-flat stomach but she didn’t care, she found her old body hot. She reached over and cupped her breast. It was crazy to see that eve though  they had reduced, surely couldn’t they remain intact as she lost the weight?

‘It’s not even two years yet, you have a long way to go’ a thought popped up in her head and it felt like a slap in the face, by the time the five years was elapsing wouldn’t she remain just skin and bones? Surely, she couldn’t let him do this to her.
She tied her hair in a bun and came out.
“You’re still here…”
“Yes, am still here, I wanna know why you’re mad so that I can know what to do in order to fix it,” he said to her. The fact that she kept pushing him away with killing him, he was even starting to miss the days she would practically throw herself at him. Now that she was slim just like he liked it, she wasn’t interested in seducing him anymore? That didn’t seem fair.
“You haven’t done anything Duke, you’re just being yourself, enjoying your life. Why would I be mad at you for that?” she asked rhetorically and climbed onto the bed.
“Then why am I getting the cold shoulder?” he kicked off his house slippers and climbed as well, Audrey gave him a glance, wondering why he was joining her. “I miss you; I feel like you’ve shut me out.” He cautiously reached over and touched her hand, slowly rubbing his thumb over her knuckles “I don’t like seeing you like this.”
Audrey looked him in the eyes. Was he really being sincere? Was he genuinely worried about her, or was this all for his selfish desires? It was really hard for her to trust his actions.
“Am fine.” She forced a smile, and he moved even closer to her, leaning against the headboard just like she was, his hand still holding hers.
“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning his chin on her shoulder blade. “I just want us to be good, to be happy…” Slowly, he decided to test the waters, started kissing her shoulder, and went up to her neck.
Audrey closed her eyes for a moment. At some point, she had been dreaming of this, wanting his hands all over her, and here it was happening. She slightly turned her head, leaning her forehead against his. Duke reached over, his hand cupping her cheek as he brought her closer and kissed her lips, starting slow at first just to see how she would react to it. When she didn’t immediately pull away, he started picking up the pace a little bit, sucking on her bottom lip and parting her lips with his tongue, which he slipped inside. Her hands went around his shoulders, and she started kissing him back.
Duke pulled her down, laying her flat on her back as his hand started caressing her body, going under her tank top to cup her breast.
When Duke started fondling her breast while kissing her passionately, that was when her brain seemed to remember what it had been seeing and it flooded her memory with the pictures and videos she had been receiving from Connie. She quickly shoved him off of her.
“what’s wrong?” asked a stunned Duke.
“Nothing, I just can’t do this with you.” She sat up.
“Why not?” Was she seeing someone again? He highly doubted it. The driver had been watching her and hadn’t reported any suspicious meetings with men.
“I think having sex with one woman should be enough for you,” she said and got off the bed. She was not going to have him sticking his cock inside her when he was also having sex with Connie, who knows if she was even faithful to him, it was all just too messy for her. Audrey walked into the bathroom and when she came out Duke was gone.
.
She poured herself a glass of wine then sat scrolling through social media, she had created an account under a fake name and normally just shared memes.
She found her way to telegram where she had recently found a group for her intake in university, and she never really participated in there but that evening they were talking about having a reunion just to see everyone and catch up over some drinks, food and music. They were discussing venues and although people were excited about the reunion, they kept on arguing over venues trying to find the most affordable one. Having been in a depressed state for a while, Audrey figured perhaps this is exactly what she needed in order to get her mind off certain things, she had to interact with people and try to chase some happiness.
So, she offered to pay for the venue and the drinks so that others could only contribute for the food. When she came out in the group and people noticed that she had been there all along they got excited, a few asked if she would be bringing Duke along since they were allowed to bring a plus one but she refused. 
The people who were organizing the reunion partnered Audrey up with Clement, a guy Audrey didn’t even remember being in their class.
“he’ll help you check out the venue and negotiate the price as well as buy the alcohol.”
Not that she needed any help negotiating but she agreed, and he came into her inbox so that they could agree on a date to meet and carry out their assigned task.
Audrey didn’t want to look stupid by not knowing who this guy was so she looked into him, did a bit of research and discovered that the reason she didn’t remember him was because he had been their senior but didn’t do well in one course so he couldn’t graduate with his class and came to join hers on part time. He didn’t attend the class regularly, but it seemed most people knew him, and he had even been there for graduation. He was now working for BBC Africa and travelled here and there but was mainly stationed in Zambia.
According to his social media it seemed he had been engaged twice, married once and he had lost his two years old son about three years earlier which led to the falling apart of his short marriage and he was now divorced. That seemed like a lot and Audrey was already sympathizing with the man before even meeting him in person.