The Billionaire Next Door

“I think I’m back in the land of the living.”

“So you are. How’s the head?”

“Still attached. Not real clear on whether that’s a good thing, but at least I’m vertical.”

“Good. Would you like something to eat?”

“I was thinking I’d get out of your hair, actually.”

“Oh. Well, you weren’t really in it. You’ve been a very quiet patient.”

He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “I’m going to strip the bed. You got fresh sheets?”

“Don’t worry about that. Besides, you look like you’re about to fall over.”

“I’m okay. Can’t wait to have a shower though.”

“Take one here if you want.”

“No, thanks. I’ve intruded enough.” With his energy already flagging, he glanced at the front door and wondered how he was going to make it to the second floor. But that wasn’t what was really on his mind. “Ah hell, Lizzie, I’ve ruined your weekend.”

“Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t have done anything differently.” She nodded at the computer. “Right now I’m all about the job search.”

“Find anything?”

She shrugged. “A few. By the way, your brother said he was coming by, but I don’t know how late.”

Sean stopped breathing. “Here? He’s coming here? ”

“Yes.” Lizzie frowned. “Is that bad? He’s worried about you.”

“No. It’s just—” Sean cut himself off, thinking that if Billy was coming over, he didn’t want his brother going upstairs. “You know what? I think I will shower down here, if you don’t mind. And if he comes, would you feel comfortable just letting him in? He’s a good guy. He only looks like a thug.”

“Of course. Wait, what exactly does he look like? I don’t watch football on TV.”

“He’s six-five, about 260 pounds. His hair’s blond like my mother’s was and he’s got a jaw like a slab of rock.”

“Sounds handsome.”

In a flash, a good old-fashioned shot of jealous-for-no-damned-good-reason went through Sean’s chest. Handsome?

“Ah, yeah, I guess he is,” Sean muttered. Actually, his brother was a total looker and women always loved the guy. The bastard.

“Well, I’ll watch out for him.”

Sean nodded and headed for the bathroom, hoping to get in and out of it fast. And not just because he didn’t want to keep his little brother waiting.

There was no reason to have Billy working out his charm on Lizzie.

***

Within moments of the shower starting, Lizzie heard the house’s front doorbell ring.

She got up and went to the blinds. Whoa… There was a Greek god out on the porch: Billy O’Banyon just about defined jock handsome in his blue jeans and his white muscle shirt and his blond hair.

Yeah…wow. Check out those tattooed biceps.

Although it was funny. In spite of his obvious attributes, he couldn’t hold a candle to Sean in her eyes.

She went out into the hall and opened the duplex’s front door. “Hi, you must be Billy?”

The Adonis smiled, showing a row of white, even teeth. “I am. And you’re Lizzie?” As she nodded, he stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you. How’s the patient?”

“Up and around. In the shower, actually.” She stepped back and swept her arm toward her apartment. “He’ll be right out.”

When Billy stepped into the hallway, his demeanor changed completely. As his eyes drifted up the stairs, his face and his body stiffened, his charisma draining out of him.

He didn’t move. Just stood there fixated.

“Um…he’s in my shower,” she prompted quietly.

“W-w-w-w.” Billy shook his head. “I mean, what?”

“Sean…He’s in my place.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Billy’s eyes didn’t leave the stairs. “H-how.” More with the head shaking, as if he was trying to unstick his mouth. “H-h-how…Damnit, how is he?”

“Better. Much better.”

“Good.” Billy’s massive chest expanded and then he looked at her. All at once, his face settled into a flashing smile that had about as much depth as water spilled on a counter. “I’m glad to hear it. He give you much trouble?”

“No.” As Billy went into her apartment, she asked, “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, I hydrated before I came, but thanks.” He looked around. “Nice place. Been here long?”

“Two years.”

“Nice.”

Standard social conversation, she thought, and she appreciated him making the effort, but she wished she could ask his what was wrong. The man who was standing in her living room was not the guy she’d opened the door to.

Down the hall, the shower shut off and there was the sound of a towel flapping around.

“Yo, Sean,” Billy called out. “How you be?”

The door to the bathroom opened and Sean stuck his head out. His hair was sticking straight up like un-mowed grass and there was water dripping off his nose.

He looked fantastic. Until she got a gander at his eyes. They were locked on his brother and clearly worried.

“You okay?” Sean asked. Even though he’d been the one down for the count with that headache.

Billy nodded. “Y-y-yeah.”

“Stay down here. You don’t go up the stairs, okay?”

Billy nodded again as if he preferred not to trust his voice.

As Sean shut the door, there was an awkward silence.

Then Billy looked up to the ceiling. “You know my father at all?”

“Yes. We were friends.”

His eyes shot to hers. As if he’d never expected to hear that word associated with the man. “Really. Huh. What was he like? As a friend?”

“He was good to me. I was grateful I knew him.”

“Really. Huh.” Same words, same inflection. As if his brain was multiprocessing and that was just what happened to spit out to fill conversational space. “He treat you good?”

“Yes.”

“Really.”

She waited for thehuh, but it didn’t come. “He looked after me in a way.”

“Funny, I always thought he didn’t care about people. Well, except for my mother. He loved her. But then she died and he changed. Everything changed. Forever.”

The haunted quality of this big, beautiful man’s voice made chills go up her spine. And the eerie feeling made her think of something Mr. O’Banyon had said once. It had been New Year’s Eve and she’d been talking to him about regrets. He’d said he had none. What he had were things he could never atone for. Regrets…Regrets didn’t go far enough.

She’d thought it was an odd way to put things, but he’d changed the subject and it had never come up again. Now, she looked back on that conversation and felt uneasy.

Billy brought his hand up to his chin. “Sometimes…Sometimes change isn’t good, you know?”

She let the comment stand, because she was well aware he wasn’t actually addressing her.

When a growling sound broke the silence, she frowned. Then realized it was Billy’s stomach.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

He looked down at his body as if surprised. “Yeah…I am.”

“Come on, I was just about to make myself something to eat.”

***

Chapter Thirteen

As Sean sat at his family’s old table in Lizzie’s kitchen, he had to give his brother credit. Billy was keeping it together, appearing to be what he was most of the time: a charmer of a guy with great people skills and a lot of bawdy stories.