Page 123 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

This summer had been about bettering myself, and I had.

I’d finally decided what I wanted to do with my life.

I was exercising more than ever. And my heart had mended.

Originally, I thought I could do all that myself.

But J.J. and Kristen were the ones that showed me the way.

They were my best friends. I loved them both so much.

I bit the inside of my cheek. Kristen knew I loved her.

For some reason it was easier with friends to talk about your feelings.

But J.J. was more than just a friend. He was…

everything. I loved him so much. And I needed to tell him.

If anything, seeing Aiden had just confirmed my feelings for J.J.

Maybe I’d tell him that tonight too. Just lay it all out there and see what he had to say about it.

“Hey!” Becca said as I walked up to the ice cream shop. She leaned on the counter. “And what can I get for you today? A double scoop of Flavors of Love?”

I laughed as I came in. Ever since she’d met J.J.

she’d been teasing me every time we worked together.

The names of flavors at this shop were absurd and there were probably at least 30 that had to do with love.

I grabbed my apron and tied it on. “How about a double scoop of I just got into the University of New Castle and I’m so excited I can’t even contain myself! ”

“What? Ah!” She hugged me. “I didn’t even know you were transferring.”

Becca wasn’t the first person that I wanted to tell. Mostly because although we got along fine at work we never really hung out outside of it. But I couldn’t keep my news locked up for a whole shift. “Mhm. I applied last month and just heard back. I’m so freaking excited.”

“Well, I’ll tell Rory and Keira that we need a new flavor name. It’s lengthy but at least it won’t make me blush whenever a guy orders it.”

I laughed. “The worst is when a little kid orders something like Wet Dream.”

“I know!”

A family stopped in front of the shop, breaking up our conversation. I was focusing more on tips than I had in the past. I needed to save every dime if my restaurant was going to become a reality.

***

When there was finally a lull in orders, I pulled out my phone.

It was tempting to text Kristen, but I wanted to tell her in person too.

My shift was almost over. It could wait.

There was one person that I needed to tell as soon as possible though.

“Can you handle everything out here for a minute?” I asked Becca.

“I need to tell my Dad the good news.” I said it like he’d care. Not like it was a formality.

“Of course.” She shooed me to the back room. “Go tell everyone. I got this.”

“Thanks, Becca.”

I disappeared into the storage room and clicked on my acceptance email again.

I could read it a million times and still be grinning ear to ear.

It would have been fun to call my dad, if we had that type of relationship.

But it was better this way. Aiden was a perfect reminder that I was done surrounding myself with dickweeds.

I forwarded the email to my dad and added a note about when tuition was due.

No love or xoxo sign off. Simple. Formal.

I was majoring in business now after all. I pressed send.

My mom would have been genuinely excited for me.

She’d definitely be happy that I’d be so close to home again.

I was about to call her but stopped myself.

I tried to remember when she said she was going on that couple’s cruise.

It was definitely at the end of July. Even if she did get service, I didn’t want to disrupt her vacation.

I shoved my phone back in my pocket. My mental balloon still felt a little deflated.

I just needed to get through this shift and then I could hand J.J. the air pump and I’d be as good as new.

I walked out of the back room and froze.

Fucking shit fuck. What little air had been put back into my balloon by Becca’s optimism and the thought that I’d be seeing J.J.

any minute popped again. Aiden was standing there talking to Becca.

I was about to turn back and hide in the storage room when he called my name.

I turned back around.

Becca looked so uncomfortable. “Hey, um…this guy says he’s your boyfriend?” She lowered both her eyebrows, jumping to some horrible conclusion about me.

I swallowed hard. I was not going to let Aiden ruin my life here like he’d ruined my life back in Cali. “Ex-boyfriend,” I said as firmly as I could. “We broke up months ago. Right, Aiden?”

“It was a misunderstanding,” he said. “We’re still very much together.”

What the hell was he doing?

Becca looked back and forth between us. “Does J.J. know about him?”

Shit. I pressed my lips together. Everyone loved J.J.

I wasn’t upset that she was trying to protect him from whatever she thought was going on.

But I didn’t want Aiden to know I was seeing someone else.

I didn’t want him to know anything about my life.

I didn’t want him here at all. And J.J. would be coming by the shop any minute to pick me up after both our shifts were over. I needed to get rid of him.

“Who’s J.J?” Aiden asked. “Are you seeing someone else?”

I cleared my throat and walked back up to the counter.

I looked at Becca, trying to address her question and wishing Aiden would just disappear.

“J.J. knows that Aiden and I broke up when I walked in on him cheating on me last semester. Aiden also knows this so I have no idea why he’s standing here right now. ”

That seemed to get Becca on my side. She turned her head and glared at him.

Aiden smiled. “Like I said…a misunderstanding.”

“Seeing you in bed with someone else wasn’t a misunderstanding,” I said.

“You never let me explain.”

I’d begged him to explain. All those calls and texts that went unanswered. Just thinking about how pathetic I’d been made me cringe. “Aiden, please just go.”

“Not until you at least tell me when you’re coming back. If you won’t talk to me here, we can set up a date when…”

“I’m not coming back.”

He laughed. “Of course you are. You can’t exactly do better than me.”

I wasn’t sure what made me madder. That he thought my comment about not coming back meant back to him, or the fact that he said that I couldn’t do better.

Because I was pretty sure a slimy used car salesman in his late fifties would be a better catch than him.

I shook my head. The joke was on him. I had found the most generous, sweet, caring man I’d ever met.

Aiden wasn’t an ounce of the man that J.J. was.

I needed to shut this shit show down. “I’m transferring to the University of New Castle. I just got my acceptance letter. There is nothing left for me in Cali. And I think it’s about time you went back.”

He laughed. “You’re seriously running away from SMU because you’re mad at me? Throwing away your future over a misunderstanding?”

“God, if you use that word one more time…”

“Fine. Mistake. It was a mistake. And I already told you I’m sorry. So let’s get on a plane and go home.”

Becca touched my shoulder. I knew there were customers. I knew this was inappropriate. I wanted this to be over as badly as she did.

“This is my home,” I said. “I don’t have anything else to say to you. Please, just leave, Aiden.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me one-on-one.”

“Please go.”

Becca tried to get my attention again.

“Now, Aiden.”

He shook his head. “Not until I get….”

“She asked you to leave,” J.J. said as he stepped up to the counter. His normal smile wasn’t there.

Becca hadn’t been concerned about the customers we were scaring off. She’d been trying to warn me that J.J. was coming. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him look so serious. I couldn’t read him at all.

“I think you should respect the lady’s wishes,” J.J. said and then turned back to me. “Hey, Mila.”

He rarely called me by my name. Jellyfish Girl was his go-to. Or when he was being sweet he’d call me gorgeous or beautiful. Hearing him call me by my actual name made me feel even more tense. But him just being here was a relief. “Hi.”

“You ready to go?” he asked, completely ignoring Aiden. He must have known who it was. He must have sensed how uncomfortable I was. He was trying to remove us from this situation as best he could. But nothing was that easy with Aiden-bitch-face.

“So this is the guy that you think is better than me?” Aiden asked. “Give me a break.”

I stared at the two of them. J.J.’s skin was bronzed from the sun.

He towered over Aiden. And everything about him exuded strength and charm.

Aiden? He was dressed in a polo shirt tucked into khaki shorts and preppy boat shoes.

The look was completed with a Rolex from his old man that he’d probably never be able to afford on his own.

He was a tool. He looked like the kind of guy that deserved to be slapped before you even knew him.

J.J. didn’t respond to his jab. He just stared at me, waiting calmly.

It was a few minutes before my shift ended, but we were making a scene. Customers were staying away. “I’m going to head out, okay, Becca?”

“We still have to divvy up the tips,” she said.

“Hold mine for me until later. Or just keep them.”

“You’re not even going to look at me?” Aiden asked J.J. “You steal my girl and won’t even look me in the eye like a man?” He flicked J.J.’s shoulder.

J.J. finally turned to him. “Yeah…you’re not going to want to touch me again.”

“Or what?”

Jesus. I untied my apron and tossed it on the counter.

“You don’t want to find out,” J.J. said.

Aiden laughed and shook his head. “All talk and no balls.”

I ran out the door, blinking from the bright sun.

“You can say whatever you want to me,” J.J. said. “But don’t you dare talk about her like that.”

I don’t know what Aiden had said about me in the few seconds I couldn’t hear their conversation. But I had never seen J.J. look so pissed. Not even at the beginning of summer when I kept trying to make him jealous.

“Just like I said. No balls.” He flicked J.J.’s shoulder again.

J.J. clenched his hand in a fist and shook his head.

“Let’s go,” I said to J.J. “Please, let’s just go.” I tried to walk past Aiden as quickly as possible, but he grabbed my arm.

“I just need to talk to you for a few minutes, babe.”

“Don’t touch me.” I pulled away but Aiden’s fingers dug into my skin harder.

J.J. had let Aiden flick him. Insult him.

But it was like a switch went off behind J.J.

’s eyes when he saw Aiden touch me. One of the fists he’d been clenching hit Aiden’s face so fast if I’d blinked I would have missed it.

A sickening crunching noise echoed in my ears as Aiden’s hand fell from my arm.

“Jesus Christ.” Aiden grabbed his bloody nose.

“Don’t you ever lay your hands on her again,” J.J. said.

“She was mine first. And I’ll put my hands wherever I fucking want!” He lunged at J.J.

“Stop it!” I yelled as they collided. They slammed into the ice cream shop counter and Becca screamed at the top of her lungs before they fell onto the cement.

Aiden had knocked J.J. over and landed at least one punch, but he was absolutely not winning this fight.

J.J. could easily annihilate him. And he did.

Punch after punch after punch. “Both of you stop it!” People around us started pulling out their phones.

I wasn’t sure if they were filming it or calling the cops. Probably both.

I looked at Becca for help but she was just standing behind the counter with her mouth hanging open.

“J.J.” I tried to pull him off Aiden. “J.J., please. Let’s just go home.” I wasn’t sure if it was my voice or my hands on his arm, but he snapped out of his trance. He got up and ran his fingers through his shaggy hair like he hadn’t just been beating the shit out of my ex-boyfriend.

Aiden got onto all fours and spit blood onto the pavement. He wiped his bloody nose with the back of his hand as he stood up. “You’re fucking crazy.”

I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or J.J., but it really didn’t matter.

“Good luck with that meathead, Mila.”

Screw it. I deserved a few punches too. I took a step forward to slap him, but J.J wrapped his arm protectively around me, keeping me by his side. “Let’s go home.”

Home. It wasn’t my touch or my voice that had stopped J.J. from fighting with Aiden. It was the fact that I’d referred to my apartment as our home. My home with him. I leaned into him as he pulled me away from the chaos.

“Just wait until she comes crawling back to me in Cali!” Aiden yelled from behind us. “All her stuff is still in my apartment. Whatever home you two think you have here is only temporary! See you in a few weeks, babe!”

I closed my eyes and let J.J. lead me back to our home. The one I wished could be permanent.