Chapter 7

When Drake pulled into his driveway, Samantha was waiting there for him. She did not look happy at all, but Drake couldn’t help laughing as he climbed out of the vehicle and let Scarlett stay sleeping. Samantha was absolutely relentless when she was angry. Drake knew it, and he was prepared to deal with the situation.

“Is there a reason you’re avoiding my calls?”

“Of course not. I was on the beach with Scarlett and then driving home; I didn’t check my phone.”

“I know things got uncomfortable with us. But you need to get over it. We aren’t going to have a relationship, and I’m still the best damn assistant you’ve ever had, so stop being an asshole.”

“Wait a second there. I’m not being an asshole. You knew what this week was going to be like, and you seemed perfectly all right with it earlier in the week. Now you’re yelling at me and acting like a maniac. I think you need to stop being an asshole.”

Drake didn’t like how Samantha was trying to turn everything around and make him out to be the bad guy. He had listened to Samantha and her plan to keep them apart for many years. It wasn’t his fault that things were changing between them.

“What?” Samantha asked as the anger fumed in her eyes.

“Yeah, you heard me right. I’m not afraid to call it like I see it. You’re being a girl asshole, Sam. I wanted you, yes, I admit that. But if you’re not interested, I’m going to respect that. But you’ve changed this week, and that’s not cool. Either get over it or don’t, but we need to figure this out.”

Just then, Scarlett climbed out of the car. She looked back and forth between Samantha and Drake and could obviously tell they were in the middle of a heated discussion.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds to talk,” Scarlett joked as she made her way inside.

“We aren’t lovebirds,” Sam said. “I’m going. You two enjoy your night together.”

Scarlett walked back downstairs, wrapped her arms around Samantha and gave her a hug. There was a close relationship between the two of them, that was certainly clear in how Scarlett and Samantha hugged, but Drake had no idea what was going on.

“Stay, I need to shower. I’m covered in sand. Send Drake up in a few minutes,” Scarlett said to Samantha.

Drake looked oddly at the two women as he heard what Scarlett said. It was like a scene out of some weird ménage movie, and Drake felt like he wasn’t in on the secrets. Why were those two so close to each other? Why was Scarlett perfectly fine with Drake staying downstairs and arguing with Samantha?

Better yet, why was Samantha even arguing with him in the first place? It was like a scene out of a movie for sure, and Drake couldn’t wrap his brain around it. Things were changing all around him, and he didn’t feel like he had control over any of it.

“We will only be a few minutes. Tomorrow you’ll have to tell me all about how you ended up without your clothes,” Samantha joked with Scarlett.

“See you in a few minutes,” Scarlett said to Drake.

Drake stood in front of the house and stared at Scarlett as she made her way inside. Then he looked at Samantha, hoping that she would give him some sort of explanation for what had just happened, but Samantha was still angry with him and wasn’t going to be explaining anything.

“What did you do? Strip her down in the middle of the ocean or something?” Samantha said angrily. “I can’t believe you.”

Drake knew exactly where he was. He was in the middle of one of those “you can’t win” arguments. He’d had many of these before with women, but they were always with women he had slept with and was trying to break up with. This was the first time he actually felt bad for being stuck in the middle of a no-win argument.

“We got stuck on the beach at high tide and ended up in the water. Now, why don’t you tell me why you are so damn pissed off at me?”

Samantha turned around and stared at the house before she turned back and met Drake’s gaze. There was something that she wanted to say, Drake felt it as he looked at her; but Samantha was holding back. She bit her lip and looked at Drake as she contemplated what she wanted to say.

He hated when she bit her lip like that and loved it all at the same moment. Samantha drove Drake wild, and he loved to fantasize about having her, but he could respect her wishes to leave things as friends. The problem was, Samantha seemed to want to argue like they were in a relationship and not like she worked for him or like they were friends.

“I don’t even know. I just don’t like how things are going right now,” Sam said.

Drake felt the lie as it came out of her mouth. There was something else that Samantha wanted to say to him, something else that had her so angry, but she wasn’t going to tell him. Drake grabbed her by the arms and pressed her up against the house gently. His face was only inches away from her, and he wasn’t going to let Samantha go until she told him what was going on.

“You know. Tell me what’s the matter,” Drake demanded.

“I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, yes … oh, I don’t know. Things are changing between us, and I don’t like it. I knew that someday you would find a woman; I just didn’t think it would feel like this.”

“What does it feel like?” Drake asked.

His lips were so close to hers, his body pressed up against hers; Drake felt that familiar passion for Samantha as it rose up and took over. Without thinking, he leaned down and kissed her. His passion was firm and hard, and so was hers until she pushed him away from her. Drake knew it had been a mistake to kiss her, but he just couldn’t stop himself.

“No. Go up and be with Scarlett. She’s the right one for you. I know it. Go be with her,” Sam said as tears started down her face.

Drake hadn’t often seen tears from Samantha during their entire relationship, and it caught him totally off guard. She was upset with him because he was trying to find a woman, yet she didn’t want to be his woman or even give him a chance. It was beyond frustrating for Drake to contemplate what was going on in that moment.

“I think we should talk about us first.”

“There is no us. There will never be an us. You need to go upstairs and be with Scarlett. She’s the perfect woman for you, Drake. She’s smart, beautiful, and kind. I couldn’t have handpicked a better woman if I had made her from scratch. Don’t ruin this, Drake. Go be with her.”

Samantha turned and walked away from Drake, heading to her car. Drake waited to see if she would look back. He wanted to see her face. He wanted to know that she was alright. Samantha was hurting, and Drake didn’t like to see that at all. No matter what happened between the two of them, Drake couldn’t stand the thought of Samantha being hurt.

“Samantha,” he hollered after her. “Come finish the conversation. If we don’t have it now, we won’t ever resolve this.”

Samantha froze only a few steps away from her car. He could tell she was still crying, and Drake waited for her to turn around and come to her senses. She needed to give up the idea of them not dating; he wished she would have given it up years before. But then again, Drake probably would have ruined the opportunity years before.

If Samantha would only give them a chance at dating, Drake would hold off on making his decision to date any of the women in the house. Maybe things wouldn’t work out between Samantha and him, but maybe they would. All Drake knew was at that moment, Samantha was making it clear that she wasn’t willing to risk their working relationship for what might happen in a romantic one.

And what about that moment? It wouldn’t be any better if they decided to try and date then and there. Drake felt the pain of anxiety as it rushed through him. It would be easier if he and Samantha just forgot all about whatever it was that was going on between them. If they could just get back to the way things were, then everything would be fine again.

Samantha didn’t turn around. She didn’t come back to him. Instead, she simply climbed into her car and pulled out of the driveway without looking at him as she drove away. He couldn’t even see if she was looking at him in the mirror. Samantha had made it very clear that she wasn’t going to change her mind, and she certainly wasn’t going to let them take a stab at any sort of relationship. Drake just needed to accept it. He had to. There was no other choice.

“You’re soaking wet, come inside,” Victoria said as she opened the front door.

Emily and Lauren were both standing there as well. The three women were eager to talk with Drake, and he knew he should spend a few minutes with them, but he didn’t have much energy left. The emotions of the week had officially overwhelmed him. He couldn’t stay downstairs and pretend like everything was alright; Drake needed to go talk to Scarlett.

“Hi ladies, I hope your day was good. I’m going to run upstairs and take a hot shower. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

The disappointment on their faces was evident, but Drake couldn’t care about all that. He had to go see Scarlett. He had to straighten things out with her. She certainly must have felt like he had cast her to the side in favor of an argument with Samantha, which was exactly what he had done. But he didn’t want her to feel bad.

Shit, Drake didn’t want anyone to feel bad, and that was all that seemed to be happening. He made his way to his room and quickly showered before dialing Robert. If there were any man in the entire world that Drake trusted with what was going on at that moment, it had to be Robert. They had been friends for as long as they had worked together, and Drake trusted the man with his life.

“It’s almost midnight, what could you possibly need me for?” Robert said in a monotone voice as he answered the phone.

“I’m fucking everything up, man. All these women hate me, even Sam hates me.”

“What’s new? Women always hate you, they’ll get over it and love you tomorrow,” Robert said without any emotion.

“Shit, I can’t do this anymore. This week was supposed to be fun, and it’s turned into one big mess.”

“Are you seriously complaining about your week with seven beautiful women? Please don’t tell me you called me to complain about all the sex and women you have at your house right now. I’m serious. Don’t tell me that. I will come over there and rip your tongue out if you tell me that.”

Drake laughed at how serious Robert was. It was hilarious how Robert always joked about the women that Drake got, but Robert was very happily married and Drake was jealous of the relationship Robert had with his wife of seven years. It was a partnership, exactly what Drake wanted to find.

“It’s harder than you would think.”

“Oh, I thought it was going to be hard. I can’t keep my one wife happy for twenty-four hours; I knew damn well you were getting yourself in really deep with having seven women there. But bro, this is your battle. You need to figure this shit out and move on. Complaining isn’t going to help anyone.”

“I know. I just don’t want to hurt these girls. They are great women.”

“Drake, these women know what they got into. Just don’t fuck with them. Make your decision and move on. Listen to your gut and just go for it. Your uncertainty is just like fucking with them. You need to make your decision swiftly and stick to it. It’s that simple.”

Drake thought about Robert’s words. It was exactly what he needed to hear. There was a decision to make, and Drake worked well under pressure. He had to just follow his gut and that would show him exactly where to go. Things didn’t need to be as complicated as Drake was making them out to be. He just needed to follow his gut.

“Thanks. I can’t wait for next week and getting back to normal.”

“I’m going back to sleep now. Try not to fuck up.”

Drake was still laughing as he hung up the phone and heard a knock at his door. He knew Robert was right, he had to stop worrying so much and try to finish out the week strong. His gut would guide him to exactly where he needed to go.

“Oh, hey. How are you?” Drake said as he opened the door to see Cynthia standing there.

“It’s midnight. Does that mean you’re free for some play time?” Cynthia said, gently hitting a black whip on her hands.

“Not tonight. But you look beautiful,” Drake said as he leaned in and kissed Cynthia on the cheek.

“Enjoy your evening, but I’m going to get a hold of you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it.”

Cynthia returned to her bedroom, and Drake walked the opposite direction toward Scarlett’s room. Even though it was after midnight, Drake wanted to spend more time with Scarlett. They hadn’t even had sex yet, that was what he had been looking forward to all day; truthfully, he had been looking forward to it all week long.

Drake knocked on the door and then waited for Scarlett to answer. It took her a few minutes, but she finally came to the door. She had on sweatpants, a T-shirt, and her hair was pulled up in a ponytail. Scarlett looked just as beautiful as she had with all her hair and makeup done. There was no denying that Scarlett had natural beauty and didn’t need all the bells and whistles to make her pretty.

“Ready for me?” Drake asked as he started to make his way into the room.

Scarlett held her hand out though and stopped him.

“Actually, I’m pretty exhausted. Why don’t we call it a night?” Scarlett said as she kissed Drake gently.

He couldn’t believe his ears. She was getting rid of him. She didn’t even want to spend the evening with him. It had to be because of what happened downstairs with Samantha. Drake wasn’t going to end his night on a bad note with Scarlett. She deserved better than that.

“Can I come in for a minute at least? We can talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

Scarlett held the door firmly and refused to let Drake inside. It was clear that she was no longer in a mood to kiss him or be very close to Drake at all.

“Samantha was just upset because I hadn’t been answering my phone. I’m sorry it took so long.”

“Oh, no worries at all. I’m not angry, Drake, I really am just exhausted.”

“Really?”

“Yes, we can talk more tomorrow. I had a great evening with you. I know you and Sam go way back, and I have absolutely no problems with that. Really I don’t.”

“So, you are really just tired and want me to leave you alone so you can sleep?”

Scarlett laughed at the trepidation in his voice. Drake looked so unsure of himself, so unwilling to believe that Scarlett really could be alright with whatever history he had with Samantha.

“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s get some good sleep, and we can talk more tomorrow.”

Scarlett stood on her tiptoes and kissed Drake one last time as she led him out of her room and shut the door behind him. Drake couldn’t figure out what exactly had just happened, but it felt like the one woman he had wanted all week long had just refused him.

The Billionaire’s Hunt