Rock Star Billionaire

“I don’t know. What are you talking about?”

“I am assuming that when this contract is over, you would like to move on to newer and hotter women for more exciting adventures.”

It took a lot to spit those words out.

“That’s a big assumption. Do you really think this is all,” I gestured around the balcony décor, “just about the contract?”

“What is it, then?” she challenged.

“That is for us to figure out as we go along,” I said looking away from her. Not once had I actually thought beyond the contract; I assumed that Aria was just going to be around forever. Now that the thought crossed my mind, I felt a weird sort of a gloom and didn’t want to dwell on it too much.

“Speaking of the contract, since we are finally on the subject, what is going on with that?”

“That is for us to figure out as we go along too.” I smirked and had to duck because she tossed a grape towards me in mock-anger. “Come on, let’s go inside, it is starting to get chilly,” I said to change the subject. Plus my restraint wasn’t going to last very much longer, and unless Aria was okay with my neighbors potentially seeing me rip her clothes off, which I highly doubted, we had to at least make it indoors soon enough.

Chapter 9

Aria

We got up to head inside and my phone buzzed. It was a text from my mother. The payment on her hospital bill had been made this morning. An immense relief spread through my body, as though I hadn’t even realized just how tense I had been this whole time. It was technically the last day to do it, so the whole time I had been here, I was somewhat antsy, even though I did not want Zayden to notice, and did a good job of that I suppose. But I could relax now and truly enjoy his company. The payment was made. I had nothing else to worry about. For now.

“Zayden.” I stopped in my tracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked looking from my text to his face and back.

“Because I knew you would find out soon enough,” he said shrugging. He knew exactly what I was talking about. “But I wanted you worry about it for a bit.”

“That is really messed up, you know,” I couldn’t help saying, but right after, I felt uncomfortable, like I was being ungrateful. “I didn’t mean to say it like that. Thank you for paying the bill is what I meant to say.” I reached out to hug him but he backed off this time. “Is everything okay?” I looked at him concerned.

“Yeah, I think so, but let’s talk about this inside. In my bedroom,” he said with a completely straight face.

“Sure,” I said cheerfully. “To the bedroom then, to ‘talk’,” I said playfully air-quoting the word.

“No, Aria, we really will be talking in there. At first anyway,” he added with the hint of a smile. It didn’t make any sense. He had already made the payment and I was here ready – and in all honesty yearning – to take my clothes off for him, but he wanted to talk?

When we got to his bedroom, I immediately picked the office chair across from his desk to sit on, deliberately avoiding looking at the enormous bed right in the middle of the room. I had never seen a bed quite that size. It had to be bigger than a king size. Did they even make those? He probably had it custom-made for his benefit. He was probably best friends with the president of IKEA or something.

Trying not to think about how it would feel to roll around naked in that bed, I looked at Zayden sincerely. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“The contract. You noticed how this payment was made late? As late as possible, in fact?”

“Nope,” I said trying to be teasing. “I hadn’t noticed at all. Was it late, then?”

“No, Aria, really, listen to me. I know how difficult it was for you to be constantly anxious about the payment and to not know whether I would actually pull through. You don’t ever want to experience that agony, do you?”

“Of course not.” I sighed, giving in to his mood. “But where are you going with this?”

His deep blue eyes gazed at me with so much intensity that I thought it would tear right through me. “You tried to get out of the contract at the beginning of the month. Don’t do it again.”

My heart started thumping fast because of the stern look on his face. “I’m – I’m sorry,” was all I could manage to say.

“You should be. You thought you would just cut me out and not face any consequences!” he exclaimed. “Like somehow you were just going to walk into all that money and never have to worry about it again.”

“I didn’t think any of those things,” I said, starting to get a little frustrated myself. “I was just upset, Zayden, because of how controlling you were being! And like I already told you, that is just not something I am programmed to deal with.”

“So at the hint of the slightest bit of trouble, you run? How can I trust that you won’t just randomly decide you dislike something else I do or say and try to bail again? Only to want to come running back when you realize you had no other options?”

“How can I trust that you don’t have any more wives up your sleeve?” I asked cheekily and before he could answer, quickly added, “The answer is there is no reason for me to do so, but I do. I trust you because that’s how trust works, with or without evidence.”

“This was your punishment for breaking the rules, Aria. I hope you don’t do it again.”