Chapter 8

Sleep had been something that Drake was missing a lot of throughout that week with the women. And that night was no different. Drake woke up to loud laughter and voices outside Lauren’s window. It was after midnight, and as he looked down at the group of women huddled around the fire, anxiety filled his body.

These women had become friends to him, at the very least. He enjoyed their company and wanted to keep them all in his life. Drake had to start thinking about how this week was going to end and how he was going to make the final decision. He couldn’t stand the thought of hurting any of the women.

When he had come up with the idea for his week with all the women in the house, Drake thought it was going to be filled with orgies and never-ending sex. But he quickly learned that sex was complicated, and having sex with seven women who lived in the same house was enormously complicated. He had done well throughout the week and felt like he managed his time the best he could between all the women. But Drake didn’t want a giant orgy over the weekend. He didn’t want his week with the women to end in that way, but he wasn’t sure how he wanted it to end.

These ladies were all amazing women. Drake knew that he was going to have to come up with a remarkable way to say goodbye to them. It was important to him that everyone left feeling good about their time at his home that week. Sure, he was going to have to break some hearts. But perhaps like Lauren said, they would all be just fine in the end. Perhaps everyone would understand his choice; whatever that was.

Drake honestly didn’t have a clue who he was going to pick out of all the women. He still had his date with Scarlett ahead of him, but he knew that was going to go well. Drake already knew he liked Scarlett, and she was certainly going to be hard to say no to. But he liked all the women. His chest felt tight as he thought about making such a life altering decision. Drake wanted to call Samantha and talk about it, but after the awkwardness between them, he thought it probably wasn’t a good idea.

“What are they doing down there?” Lauren asked softly as she got out of bed naked and wrapped her arms around Drake.

He felt her skin press up against his, and instantly his body got hard. Her arms were around his waist and so close to touching him that he couldn’t think of anything else but throwing Lauren back into the bed and making love to her one more time.

“Drinking and eating s’mores it looks like.”

“Let’s join them,” Lauren said, starting to get dressed.

“Are you sure? We could just stay here if you’d like.”

“No, it looks fun. Let’s go visit with everyone.”

Drake couldn’t help smiling at Lauren’s willingness to give up the rest of her evening with him and go join the other women. The other women really hadn’t gotten much of his time that day, and he was happy to go and talk with everyone. He needed all the time he could get as he tried to make his final decision, but he would have been perfectly happy to spend a little more time naked with Lauren.

They made their way down to the main floor where Drake pulled Lauren to the side and gave her one last sweet kiss on the lips. It might be their last chance to have such an intimate moment together, and he wanted her to know that she had been a great date. Despite getting arrested, Drake really had enjoyed their time together. Spending the day with Lauren was absolutely what Drake needed to refocus himself for the rest of the week and make the decisions he had to make. Lauren’s positive nature had rubbed off on Drake, and he felt energized to finish the week out strong.

“I had a great date with you. A disastrous and perfect date.”

“Me too.”

Then they made their way out to the women and the roaring fire that was underway. He held onto her hand as they walked toward the group. It felt natural to hold her hand, and he didn’t want to let it go. He wanted Lauren there with him, yet he wanted to talk to the other women as well.

“Drake!” a chorus of women’s voices hollered out.

He couldn’t help smiling at the attention all the women gave him. He was used to women noticing him, that wasn’t anything new, but these women were genuinely excited to see him. They had waited all day to spend some time with him, and he was excited to visit with them as well. Dating seven women at the same time wasn’t something he would recommend to anyone. It was near impossible to give all the women the attention they needed. It was hard enough to give one woman the attention she needed.

Lauren pulled her hand away from Drake’s and let him go with the other women. It was clear that her day with him was officially over. She made her way to where the drinks were and grabbed one for herself. Before coming to the house with Drake, Lauren hadn’t been much of a drinker. She was always preparing for an event and trying to stay in tip top shape. But after the day she had just had, Lauren needed some alcohol.

“How was your date?” Emily asked as she walked over to talk with Lauren.

Emily wasn’t interested in swarming Drake and trying to get time with him right away. She was perfectly happy to talk with him some more later in the evening. Instead, Emily wanted to speak with Lauren and see what the two of them had done on their date.

“Well, we got arrested,” Lauren started to say.

“What? That’s crazy.”

“I know. I’ve never been arrested before. Did you know that they arrest you for having sex on the beach? I really thought they would just give a warning or pay a fine or something.”

Lauren could tell she had just made Emily very uncomfortable. It was weird that all the women had spent time with Drake, and everyone probably had feelings for him. Lauren knew she needed to change the subject.

“I didn’t know that,” Emily said softly.

“How is Sophia doing? Have we heard anything?” Lauren asked, grabbing a second drink.

“Yeah, when Robert came by earlier he said Sophia was doing very well and wanted to come back to the house. But her doctors won’t be releasing her until next week.”

“Well, I’m glad she’s doing alright.”

The two women stood silently drinking their drinks while they tried to think of something else to say. There wasn’t much they could talk about without bringing up Drake, though, so they decided to join the other women and sit around the fire and talk for a while.

“So, you guys got arrested?” Cynthia said with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah, it was my first time.”

“Oh, it gets easier. I’ve been arrested for public sex many times,” Cynthia joked with the group.

They all laughed. It seemed like Cynthia was kidding, but there was a wild side to her, and Lauren could see that she might get herself into trouble with her sexual fun side.

It was nice to sit around and relax with everyone. The week was winding down, and Drake felt the pressure immensely on him. As he sat and watched the women laugh and joke with each other, all he could think about was that he was going to have to pick just one of them. It was killing him. He wanted them all. But Drake didn’t want them in a weird orgy type of way. He really enjoyed each and every woman and didn’t want them to be forever out of his life. Obviously, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep them all in his home with him forever.

As he looked around at the women, Drake tried to imagine what his life would be like with each of them. They were all so unique and different. He was certain each of the ladies would bring something special to his life. But which was going to be the best fit for him? That was what he had to decide.

Of course, the other thing was the chemistry between him and the women. There were a couple of the ladies that he had such intense chemistry with that he knew they would be able to work through anything else that might come up between them. Then there were a couple of the women who he thought were amazing ladies, but perhaps weren’t the perfect fit for him; still a very good fit, but not as perfect as the others. Drake had a lot of thinking to do, and he tried to get started as they roasted their marshmallows and drank together.

“Where’s Scarlett?” Lauren asked.

Drake stopped thinking and focused all of his energy on Lauren’s question. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized that Scarlett wasn’t there. She was one of the women that he had such an intense chemistry with, how on earth had he not realized she was missing?

“She left earlier this morning, just after you guys went on your date,” Victoria said. “I’m sorry, I thought Robert had told you.”

“What? Where did she go?” Drake said as he stood up to go look for her.

“I’m not sure. She just up and left.”

Drake’s heart pounded with a pain that instantly told him Scarlett was one of the women he wanted to keep around. He hadn’t even gotten to have his day with her yet. Why would she just leave like that? Why wouldn’t she at least finish out the week and see where things went?

The Billionaire’s Hunt