Page 13 of Billionaire Enemy's Baby
Why is he shaking my hand anyway? I thought he hated me. Unless this is some passive aggressive move I don’t understand. I’d like to think that I knew Josh well, but just because we spent one night together, doesn’t mean a thing. I know I don’t know him at all. Something which is starkly obvious to me now, as I stand in front of him.
“So, you two know one another?” Wyatt doesn’t seem to recall anything from the past, which is actually better. It makes this whole mess less embarrassing. “That’s good, because I am very happy with how the job interview went. I will be in touch, Lexi, but I’m happy…”
I don’t know what this means, but my heart is too busy thundering in my ears for me to really take in the words anyway. Oh God, now that blue haired awesomely cool woman who works here has a hold of Wyatt’s arm and is pulling him away to tell him something, leaving me standing here alone withhim.
This is bad, really bad.
I should go. I mean, I can go, can’t I? There’s no real reason for me to stay, right? I have done what I came here for, I got through the job interview, and now… well, now I could just bury my head in the sand, make my excuses and leave. There is nothing stopping me.
Well, the only thing stopping me is the knowledge that while Josh doesn’t deserve a chance to get to know his daughter after the way he abandoned her, she deserves to know that she has a father… if he’s going to bother to be a decent one that is.
I actually feel sick. My stomach is churning in an out of control manner. If I vomit on Josh’s shoes then that’ll be the perfect end to this shit show.
“So, Lexi, you want to work with my brother, huh?” He’s so casual. How the hell is Josh so casual about all of this? There must be a part of him freaking out, right? But he doesn’t seem to be panicking at all. He’s taking it all in stride, which is insane.
“That’s pretty cool. Although I never imagined you in a place like this. I thought you’d be in a movie.”
A bitter ball of bile lodges itself at the base of my throat. Is he making some sort of sick joke about me not making it to LA? That’s messed up. If this is his way of trying to open the doors to communication, then it’s shitty. I don’t even want to give him the satisfaction of giving an answer.
Was Josh always like this? I wish I’d known him better.
“I didn’t know you were back from London,” I say sharply instead.
“Ah well, it was time to move on. I did all I could in England.” His lips curl up into smile. As his dimples pop I think I might fall over. I wish he wouldn’t have this effect on me when I need to be smart and rational.
For Mya.
“But it’s funny that I ran into you here when I’ve just arrived, considering you were one of the last people I saw before I left.” Now his eyes are twinkling, what the hell is happening? “Because I remember it really well. I think we had one hell of a night, didn’t we?”
“Err…” What am I supposed to say?
This is so strange.
“That party was at Jayde’s house, right? Yeah, I remember it well. She lived in that big mansion where the parties were always being held. But I never went upstairs at those parties before… I was always too busy drinking to have fun like that.”
I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t know if Josh was a playboy then or if he was a playboy now. I suppose it doesn’t matter; all I really need to do is back away from him. I need to say something to silence him so we can stop fucking around. I don’t want him to ask me anything, but at the same time I want to tear the band-aid off and get it out the way.
“Maybe we should have somemorefun, what do you think?”
My blood ices over as he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me. Is he saying what I think he is? That he wants to hook up again? This has to be a sick joke, right? There’s no way he canactuallybe doing this to me.
No way at all. I’m actually speechless, I don’t know what to say.
The sad part is, the teenage girl that I’ve buried deep within me, is excited by this. Especially because he’s so freaking handsome and it actually hurts to look at him. Looking at his face feels like I’m staring into the sun. His words prove that he wants me, that my crush is requited, it makes me feel sexy and worth it. But the adult within me who has been raising his child alone for four years, and whom he hasn’t even asked after, is furious.
That side of me wants to punch him in the face.
I step back to keep my curled-up fists to myself. Even with this horrible shock, I still want to try and get this job, or at the very least make a good impression so that Wyatt doesn’t put me on the blacklist with other employers. I need to get out of here before the air gets too hot and red, causing me to lose my mind. I’m close enough to the edge as it is.
“Well, I don’t think Wyatt needs me anymore,” I say stiffly. “So I will just get out of here.”
“You don’t want to come to lunch with us?” Josh asks. “Wyatt won’t mind you coming.”
Red spots burn in my cheeks. I turn to run as fast as I can without making a total fool out of myself. What thehellwas all of that about? I might not have dreamed about running into Josh again for years, mostly because I’ve been trying to forget he even exists, but if I had, it would never have gone likethat.
With Josh hitting on me and never even asking about Mya.
Maybe that’s proof of what I’ve always suspected, that he’s never cared about his child. How he cannotwant to know about his kid, I don’t know, but it’s also something that I will just have to accept, no doubt about it. I guess it’s really for the best.
