Rock Star Billionaire

“Well, he did have feelings… feelings of control! Feelings that he owned me because he gave me money, and…you get the gist.” I smiled at Nick. “How long have you been standing there anyway?”

“Heard the important bits,” he said and shrugged. “And Stacey is right, the dude is obviously in love with you, but you need to be cautious given… prior circumstances.”

“What do you guys want me to do, exactly?” I asked, annoyed because it seemed like they were ganging up on me somehow. “Let the hospital bills not be paid? Let my mom lose everything?”

“That’s not at all what I am saying, Aria, and you know it,” Stacey said, looking as annoyed as I was. “It’s just… I am just saying be careful. You know this guy very well by now, and you are going back despite disliking some of his ways. If you are expecting him to change a little, sure that could happen, but a complete one eighty is unlikely, and you’re just wasting everybody’s time if you go back with particular expectations in that regard, because it will end just like it did last time.”

That made way more sense than I liked. Stacey was right, I couldn’t go in there thinking everything was suddenly going to be different. Most likely, he would still have controlling tendencies, and I would have to learn to talk him out of it without wanting to storm out every time.

“I will be careful, I promise,” I said finally. “You guys are absolutely on point about this. But you understand that I am in a sticky situation, right? There are only two days until payment and I have so far been completely unsuccessful in coming up with a plan to do it without Zayden’s help. As much as I hate to admit it – and would never ever admit to him, god no – I do need him right now, so I will have to make more compromises than not.”

“As long as you are aware that’s what you’re doing.” Stacey smiled. “There is nothing wrong with a little compromise, Aria.”

Nick made a coughing sound.

“What?” Stacey snapped looking at him. “Are you trying to say something to me, Nicholas?”

He looked like he had a bullet fast approaching his face and finding a direction to duck in to dodge it. “No. Uh, I mean, like. Yeah, sure. We compromise. Both of us, all the time.”

He was trying hard not to meet her eye.

“You think I don’t compromise enough!” Her face changed compl

etely in realization.

I started feeling uncomfortable about being there. It was one of those rare moments, when I became very aware of the fact that Nick and Stacey were a couple in a real relationship with real relationship problems – and not just bickering about blogs and video games - and I was intruding on their private moments.

Trying not to draw attention to myself, I slowly got up, but their fight was getting heated and I was sitting right smack in the middle of the two so there was no way to escape without drawing attention to myself. I thought it was best to just announce my departure at that point, so I said softly, “I am really tired, guys, I have a long weekend ahead of me, so I am gonna be off now.”

Without waiting for an answer, I began to march off, but Stacey stopped me. “Wait! What do you think, Aria? Do I not compromise enough?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable to be summoned into the conversation. “How would I know?”

“You live with us! You see us together all the time. You must have an opinion!”

“I don’t,” I said not entirely truthfully. In all honesty, I did think that Nick made the majority of the compromises and Stacey made the majority of the decisions in their relationship; however, this seemed to work for them, and wasn’t that kind of the point? There certainly wasn’t a universal rule of conduct that worked evenly for everybody, was there? Something that I would need to keep in mind as well; every two people are different, and need to find their own unique ways to make it work, no matter how crazy or ridiculous it may seem to other people.

“You guys really need to talk this out among yourself, but I will say this, I have harped on this over and over again the entire time the two of you have been together, and to date, I would be harder pressed to find two people that are completely perfect for each other. And that remains true even if one of you may be more…” I looked at Nick with a half-smile, “….compromising.”

Then I walked away, not letting Stacey stop me this time, and feeling kind of pleased with myself for the way I handled the situation.

Dealing with other people’s problems, however, was much easier than addressing your own. I could write an essay on Nick and Stacey’s relationship, and relationships in general, and people in relationships. I could write an essay on love even, in a heartbeat. Yet, when it came to understanding the best approach to handling my situation with Zayden, I was always at a complete loss. I had a plan but I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Knowing him and his weaknesses, I didn’t doubt he would physically cave in a second, but would he make the payment?

A part of me wished that we had gotten comfortable enough with each other that I could just straight up ask him whether he was planning on making it, but I had tried in my own way, hadn’t I? And he clearly wanted to keep me in the dark and was enjoying taunting me like this. That was the kind of thing I needed to learn to be okay with if I was determined to continue whatever this was. Zayden Sinclair loved playing games, and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, was he? His games weren’t entirely un-stimulating. I wasn’t saying that I enjoyed feeling like I was constantly in the middle of a mental tug-of-war, but it was refreshing to always be left wondering what was going to happen next. It kept me on my toes and I could at the very least safely say that having Zayden Sinclair in my life meant there was never a dull moment.

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On Saturday I woke up early in the morning to groom myself thoroughly. After spending hours cleansing, toning, exfoliated, and waxing, I felt much more relaxed about my upcoming encounter with Zayden. Not that seducing him was ever going to be the difficult part; he would get excited even if I showed up in a rucksack, but I wanted him to feel that I had put in some effort, so that he saw that I cared. Which is why I had purchased the sexy lingerie that was staring at me with anticipation.

My nerves began to bubble up again. Never before I had worn anything of this sort. Best I had done was purchase bras and panties from Target separately to match the colors. This deep red and sultry corset from Victoria’s Secret had cost a fortune. If I didn’t wear it, I could just return it, since I was feeling guilty about it anyway.

But if I thought about the opportunity cost – something my line of work had just hard-wired me to do all the time – it amounted to a very, very small price to pay. After all, if Zayden was happy and he went ahead and made the payment, then I would have a lot less to worry about altogether.

With that in mind, I stripped naked and put on the red lingerie. When I looked in the mirror, I gasped. The outfit had superpowers. My breasts, half-covered, were popping out tight and firm, and so much bigger than I had ever seen them. All my curves were highlighted to perfection and I felt more attractive than I ever had in my entire life. Zayden was in for a treat, I thought happily, then got nervous again. What if he didn’t even want to sleep with me and was just calling me over to officially end the contract? I had woken up this morning to the dream that Ned took me to Zayden’s office instead of Zayden’s house, where a room full of people were waiting in anticipation, including a camera crew from the local news station. It was some kind of a training session on how to fire somebody, and I was the test subject.

Needless to say, waking up from that dream was unnerving. Of course, I knew deep down that Zayden wasn’t actually ready to let go of me just yet.

Trying not to dwell on that too much, I started putting on the rest of my outfit. A simple black halter dress that was a little too short perhaps, but served the purpose of getting Zayden’s immediate attention. The lingerie corset had been so effective in doing its job that even through my halter dress, my breasts looked like they had been carved to optimal perk. Even I wouldn’t have been able to turn down what I saw in the mirror if I were a guy.