Jared
I barreled past dorm security. The student at the check-in counter tried futilely to stop me, crying out “Hey, wait!” as I swung over the metal turnstiles.
But it was hopeless. Even as he dialed campus security, I was already up the stairs, long legs eating up the distance like an Olympic runner. On the one hand, this was fucking ludicrous. I was a billionaire in a thousand-dollar suit, and I’d just busted into a crummy dorm with exposed insulation and worn-down, saggy furniture.
But on the other, it made complete sense. My girl was here, and I’d go to the ends of the Earth to find her, drag her back from Hell myself if I had to, striking a deal with the devil. And as I flung open the door for the fifth floor, bolting into the hallway, whom did I run into but Abby, coming out of the bathroom.
As soon as she saw me, she drew to a stop. We stared at one another, disbelieving. The yellow walls seared my eyes, how did students get any studying done here? But what really caught my eye was the placard on the door.
“You have co-ed restrooms?” I asked, thunderstruck. “For real?”
Abby turned to look over her shoulder, glancing at the sign.
“Yeah,” she managed in a fairly calm voice. “These are the modern times, not the dark ages.”
I got that subtle dig. Of course, she was referring to the Club and its antiquated ways, the female staff that catered to the all-knowing male members. But I continued, still disbelieving.
“But it’s just for sinks and toilets right? You shower separately, don’t you?” I asked forcefully. “Don’t you?” I insisted, voice rough. Oh shit, I couldn’t stand the thought of my baby naked, those curves slippery and soapy, rinsing herself off as a ton of guys looked on. WTF, WTF? This was a school, that couldn’t possibly be happening here.
But Abby rolled her eyes.
“Of course the showers are co-ed,” she said, exasperated. “But it’s not the way you think. This isn’t some locker room where people walk around naked. There are separate stalls, you can’t see anyone else.”
That didn’t make me feel better at all. Shit, the thought of this nubile, sensual girl naked in the stall next to me, taking a shower? The metal walls wouldn’t stop me, I’d be right in there with her in a flash, helping to soap up that wet cunt, get her good and clean for my dick.
So I grabbed her wrist, ready to drag the female off.
“No fucking way you’re staying here. Co-ed showers? Fuck that,” I growled. But that’s when I saw what was in her hand. Because Abby had hidden her arm behind her body, subtly turning herself so that it wasn’t obvious. But my sudden movement startled her and she dropped what she’d been holding. I froze too, staring down at our feet.
Because it was a pregnancy test. Abby had been in the bathroom taking a pregnancy test and the indicator rolled past our shoes now, bumping along on the cheap carpeting.
“Oh my god!” she squealed, pulling away and making a grab for it. “Oh my god!”
But I was a thousand times faster, and in a flash, the plastic stick was in my hand. I stared at it, squinting. What the fuck did this mean? Of course, I’ve banged a million woman and it’s fucking ridiculous that I don’t know how to read these things. But still, I always make sure the females I drill are protected. It’s just that with Abby, things had been so unexpected, happening so fast that I’d taken that sweet puss without anything. I’d ripped through her hymen, coming in that sweet twat without using anything, without bothering to make sure she was protected. And now this had happened. I grunted, still staring at the plastic applicator.
“So what the fuck does this mean?” I growled, looking at the blue lines. “Why don’t they use English on these damned things, is it so hard to use words instead of Morse code?”
Abby made another grab for it, small hand swiping futilely.
“Give it back,” she panted. “Give it back Jared, this isn’t funny.”
I snorted.
“You’re right, this isn’t funny. Tell me what this means.”
Abby planted her feet then, face flushing pink.
“It means I’m pregnant,” she hissed, eyes shooting daggers. “It means that I’m pregnant with your child,” she spat.
And that was that. In a flash, she was in my arms, that curvy form cuddled close to my broad chest. And just like before, I pounded down the stairs and out the door, racing past the very same student worker.
“Hey!” he cried again, waving his arms. “I see you! I called security, they’re gonna be here any minute!”
The dude was such a scrawny, hapless guy that I didn’t even pause. Clearly, he didn’t have the gumption to stop me himself, he’d let a raging alpha into the building without following, without trying to do anything about it other than pick up the phone. So I completely ignored the weakling, striding outside and depositing Abby in the front seat of my Maserati.
“What the fuck!” she sputtered as I buckled her in, big hands firm, clicking her in with a resounding snap. “What the fuck?”
“What the fuck is right,” I growled darkly. “What the fuck is right, you’re carrying my child and he or she needs to be safe, not to mention this pretty pussy,” I said, resting a big hand on that sweet heat. “I need to keep this little asset safe as well.”
But Abby lost it then.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shrieked, kicking with her feet, fighting with every inch of her being. “WTF, let me go! Help!”
Unfortunately, passerby were beginning to stop and stare because it looked like I was abducting a female. Between her flailing limbs, the screams, and the dark look on my face, it looked like I was some criminal about to make off with an innocent teen.
So I did the only thing that made sense. Slamming my mouth on hers, I took Abby in a deep kiss, muffling her screams, pinning her arms to her sides. She fought it initially, biting me, drawing blood, but the intensity of our liplock was too strong and sure enough, after a few seconds, the brunette was melting into me, sighing and squirming.
“Oh Jared,” she moaned. “Oh god.”
Because this is how it’s always is between us. Despite the misunderstandings, despite the botched auction, the fact that I’d fucked her without protection, she was still my sweet girl.
“Oh god is right,” I ground out, breaking away and staring at that beautiful face, the deep brown eyes that were melting into me even now. “Because you’re getting a new life, girlie.”
And with that we were off. The Maserati tore through the streets of New York until we came to screeching halt in a garage.
“What the?” asked Abby, dazed, looking around from the front seat. “Where are we?” Because this wasn’t a regular garage. This was a metal cube about the size of a trailer, specifically designed for rich men. And as I pressed a button, its function became clear. Gears ground and creaked, and slowly the cube began to levitate, rising in the air.
“Oh my god,” gasped Abby as went higher and higher, becoming skyborn. “Oh my god.” After about ten floors, the elevator walls turned into plexiglass and there was a view of the city, Manhattan laid out in all its splendor.
Because yeah, this is a car elevator. Billionaires get one put in so that you can take your car all the way up to your apartment, no need to share an elevator with the riff raff, no need to call a valet and waste ten minutes. As the cube came to a halt, metal scraped again, a wall sliding back to reveal a luxurious apartment.
“Welcome to your new home,” I ground out, coming over to her side of the car and holding the car door open. “You can say goodbye to that shithole of a dorm because you live here now.”
Abby looked around, thunderstruck. Because yeah, I have a pad that befits my fortune. Done in cream and white, the loft was fucking huge, a ten thousand square foot aerie in the sky with a view of downtown, people bustling below like ants.
“Holy,” came her breathless voice. “Holy.”
I smirked.
“Holy is right,” I said silkily. “Like I said, you’re not going back to that shithole dorm.”
That got the girl’s attention. She spun on me, brown curls flying and assumed an aggressive stance, feet planted apart, arms crossed over her chest. Shit, the brunette was beautiful, all I wanted to do was sink to my knees in front of her and worship that body, let her cunt run all over my tongue.
But the female meant business because she shot me accusing look.
“If you think that I’m letting you run my life, think again, Jared White,” she spat. “I let you run my life for a week, and look what happened,” she said gesturing to her belly.
I stared at her hungrily, raising an eyebrow.
“Looks the same to me,” I threw out casually. “A little poochy but that’s the way I like it. And if you’re referring to the baby, I hope you know what the fuck you’re talking about because you’re having it.”
The brunette rolled her eyes.
“Of course I’m having it,” she said, exasperated. “But still, what the hell? I trusted you once before, gave myself into your arms and look where we are!” she exclaimed. “There’s no “us.” There’s no “we,” there only me and you.””
I looked at the woman, eyes squinted, heart beating fast. Because although I hadn’t realized it myself, hearing her confirm that she was gonna carry my baby to term filled me with awesome wonder. There’d been a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, a horror show from my deepest nightmares, that Abby would get rid of it. But since that’d been laid to rest without even a whimper, I drew a deep lungful of air, head clearing.
“There’s a ‘we,’” I said silkily. “There’s absolutely a ‘we,’ and that ‘we’ includes three of us now.”
Abby rolled her eyes again.
“You better stop that baby girl,” I said mildly, “or you’re gonna get a beating.”
But I’ve never been able to intimidate the brunette, and that’s why I love her so much. The woman merely huffed again, placing her hands on her hips. Shit, those Double Ds were so huge. Were they already swelling with pregnancy, maybe even filling with milk? Shit, I’d never been so horny in my life, dick twitching with need.
But Abby was gonna say her piece, and she didn’t hold back, letting me have it.
“Jared,” she said slowly. “I did everything you wanted. You wanted me to come to Vegas? I did it. You wanted me to go up for auction? I did it. You wanted to spurt into my pussy and ass? I let you. But after all that, you blamed everything on me. You said the botched sale was my fault. You said I made you violate your loyalty to the brotherhood, I made you do this and that. But seriously, can you hear yourself? Can you hear how ludicrous it sounds?”
I tried to interrupt because of course I agreed. But Abby was on a roll, and there was no getting her to stop.
“I mean, seriously!” she said indignantly. “You’re an alpha billionaire with a wads of cash and loads of power. Do you think that one eighteen year-old virgin can make you do anything? Do you think that I was personally responsible for everything that happened last week? Think about it. Just think about it.”
I loved the aggressive tone because Abby’s the only one who can get away talking to me like that. I was on her in two steps, sweeping that curvy body into my arms and sinking with her onto the couch.
“Stop!” she shrieked, beating at my chest. “Stop it!”
So I let her go, but not without one quick swipe between her legs. Shit, she was so hot there, heat emanating even through rough denim.
“Stop it!” she shrieked. “Or I’ll call rape.”
I chuckled deep in my chest.
“Oh yeah, and who’s gonna help you, pretty baby?” I asked throatily. “Who’s gonna hear you here? This is my lair.”
She gulped looking around. But the fire never left her eyes, and the brunette fixed me with another glare.
“Seriously, I mean it,” he huffed again. “Don’t.”
I sat back then, hands up.
“I’m not doing anything you don’t want,” I growled, “but trust me little girl, in the end you’ll be begging for it.”
That was too much. Abby grabbed her bag then and stalked to the front door, hopelessly trying to open it, hands fumbling at the lock.
“Need some help?” I asked, looming in back of her, twisting the latch with a snick. And of course, the door swung open. But before she left, I said the magic words.
“Just so you know, I’m sorry about all that,” I intoned, blue eyes intense. “I want you to know that before you leave.”
The brunette paused mid-stride, jiggly assets quivering.
“What?” she asked, cocking her head towards me, like she couldn’t believe the words. “Say that again?”
I nodded.
“Just wanted you to know,” I said again mildly. “I completely fucked up and I’d do anything to do it over.”
At that, the girl let the door swing shut, spinning to face me.
“I don’t get it Jared,” she said, meeting my eyes. “When we were at the Club, you blamed me for everything. For screwing up the auction, for going on stage behind your back, and it was all because of your so-called ‘loyalty’ to the brotherhood. So what happened? What’s changed?”
I shrugged.
“I realized the Club is one thing, but my life is another. I was so wrapped up in that shit, going on recruiting trips, taking procurement into my own hands, scouting girls like I worked for the brotherhood. It was way overboard, and I figured it out.”
She looked at me skeptically.
“Oh right, you figured it out, just like that?” Abby said, disbelieving. “With the wave of a magic wand, it happened?” she asked, gesturing with her arms for emphasis.
I grunted.
“Okay, I talked to another member and they let me know I was overboard,” I admitted. “Off the reservation, completely wacko. The brotherhood didn’t need me to do all that, and in fact, I’ve resigned from the Management Committee, I’m a member-at-large now.”
“Okay,” said Abby slowly. “But what does that mean for me?”
I shrugged although my gaze was intense.
“Well for one, you’re having my baby,” I began.
“Clearly,” she bit out. “What else?”
I laughed, I love my girl’s vivacity, her temper makes me sizzle.
“Well, I’d like to try,” I said, drawling
Abby’s eyebrows raised.
“Try what?”
Goddammit, she wasn’t gonna make this easy, she was gonna make me say it. So I took a deep breath.
“I figured we’d try a relationship,” I said, like I was doing her a big favor. “You know, man and woman. We’re already physically compatible, clearly, and with a baby on the way, it makes sense.”
Abby paused for a moment, thinking. But then she shook her head to my astonishment.
“No, it doesn’t make sense,” she said slowly. “I’m so sorry but it doesn’t Jared. Thanks for your time, I’m gonna take the elevator now, no need to show me out. The regular elevator,” she said with an emphasis.
But I seized her wrist then, every cell in my body panicky. Holy shit, I’d just offered a relationship to a woman, and she was turning it down? What the hell, didn’t the brunette get what that meant? Didn’t she see it was a golden ticket, that the mother of my child would have a free ride for life? Dozens of women have begged me for it in the past, and I’d been a laughing bastard, dangling it in front of them like bacon before a dog. But what I was giving freely now was being rejected, which made me double over with shock. The one girl who I wanted didn’t want me.
And nodding slowly, she pulled her wrist from my grasp.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. White,” the brunette said formally, not meeting my eyes. “But I’m looking for the real thing. Not something that you’re offering just because I’m having your kid. So thanks, but no thanks,” she said softly. “We’ll co-parent somehow, people make it work.”
That tore me in two. Fuck, I’m a hard-hearted bastard but those words absolutely devastated my soul. Because this wasn’t what I wanted at all. I’d been an asshole to her through and through, and even my apology had the ring of douche to it. Plus, co-parenting? That sounded like psychobabble bullshit along the lines of “loving uncoupling” and all that New Age bullshit. Fuck that, no way in hell. This called for the big guns, taking risks that I’ve never taken before. But I had to because Abby was worth it and we were dangling on a precipice, I was about to lose her. So baring my soul, I let it all out.
“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely this time, eyes blazing, chest so tight I could barely breathe. “I’m sorry baby girl, I screwed up and I hope you can forgive me.”
Maybe it was the my tone, maybe it was the desperate gleam in my eyes. But Abby really looked at me then.
“Sorry for what?” she said, chin set. “What are you sorry for, and what’s gonna change going forwards?”
Those were smart questions and I had to give her credit for asking.
“I’m sorry for blaming everything on you,” I growled. “All that shit, all the pressure to go up for auction when you didn’t want to, forcing you to …”
She cut me off.
“I didn’t want to sell myself, but I did, of my own free will,” she said slowly. “Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to at first, but by the end, I did it because I’d decided to,” she said forcefully. “Not you.”
I nodded slowly.
“But I brought you to the Club,” I said hoarsely. “I made you into property, I treated you like you were nothing but a horse to ride at the races.”
The brunette nodded slowly.
“Maybe it started that way, but I always wanted you,” she said, looking at me, brown eyes inscrutable. “I came of my own free will, Jared. No one told me that I had to go anywhere or do anything.”
I stopped then. I’d thrown myself at her knees, begging for mercy, and it had been given. Everything that I’d apologized for, she’d turned on its head, making sure that she owned the narrative, that this was her story to tell. And I respected that, I loved Abby’s strength, her control, and her giving heart. Because she could have kicked me to the curb, could have made me beg until my heart bled, but Abby wasn’t like that. Instead, she’d re-framed the issues, helping me see her side, showing that there was more than one way to look at a situation.
And I knew I had to have her then.
“Abigail,” I ground out. “I’m so fucking sorry for everything, but I want to try. For real this time. I want to wipe the slate clean and start over,” I said in one breath. “With you.”
She looked at me, those brown eyes so intuitive, with solid judgment and incredible smarts.
“If we try, will you leave the brotherhood?” she asked slowly. “The Club’s been terrible for us so far. Will you leave, so that we can give ‘us’ a fair start?”
I took a deep breath, heart pained. Because the Billionaires Club is where I belong, it’s where I spend most of my time, work, play, everything important in my life took place there. But my obsession had made me grow careless, skewing my world views, making everything black and white instead of shades of grey. And I had something else now, something more important, more precious, and more valuable. So taking a deep breath, I nodded.
“Your wish is my command,” I growled, blue eyes flashing.
And with that, the brunette was in my arms.
“Thank you, Jared,” she whispered against my lips. “Thank you for giving up what means most to you for me and the baby.”
I pulled that sweet body close, arms like steel bands against her back.
“No thanks necessary,” I ground out. “Because you and the kid are my number ones now.”
And as the words left my lips, I knew they were true. Because my priorities had been screwed up before. I’d been a single dude intent on banging as many chicks as possible, living it up, depraved and dirty like a mofo. And the lifestyle had almost fucked up the best thing in my life. Because Abby and the baby were those best things, and it was time to leave the Club behind. The Club had twisted me, making me think that there was only one way to act, one way to treat women. Shit, it’d almost caused me to lose this beautiful girl, and the life that I could have with her by my side. So growling again, I dipped my head to take those lush lips, savoring the sweetness. It was time to focus on the future, and with my gorgeous Abby, anything is possible now.