Make Me Yours: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (4 page)

“
Hi,”
he croaked as she stepped into his house and marched to the living
room. “Please, come in,” he mumbled as he closed the door
and followed her slowly. He felt like an eighty year old man in the
body of a two hundred year old man and walking was a real challenge
but he managed it.

Meaghan was standing
the middle of his living room, arms crossed, face like thunder.

“
What?”
he asked without preamble.

Meaghan’s
eyebrows went up and her lips twisted in that way that said ‘
well
excuuuse me
’ without having to
say a word. She fumbled in her pockets with sharp angry movements and
then her hand emerged holding her phone. She brandished it toward him
as if it was a weapon, glaring at him the whole time.

“
What?”
he asked again, completely mystified.

She
said nothing, lips pursed together, just shook the phone at him like
he’d ruined the battery or something. He reached forward
tentatively and took the phone from her, looking down at it at the
last minute after holding a staring match with her for a while. The
phone was open to text messaging and he saw that she had received a
number of texts from someone…
him
.

How could you do
this to me?

The first one said
and he scrolled down reading the rest as he paled even more than he
thought he could.

I thought I could
trust you.

WHERE THE HELL DO
YOU GET OFF LYING TO ME YOU FUCKING BITCH

Dean grimaced as he
scrolled down wondering if he could possibly make like this never
happened.

Are you fucking
him now? Is that what you’re doing????

Slut

Dean switched off
the phone after that message. He couldn’t read any more. He
certainly had no memory of sending any of these. He risked a glance
at Meaghan; she was breathing very heavily, eyes looking bloodshot as
she glared at him. He opened his mouth and then closed it again
completely at a loss as to what to say.

“
What
the fuck Dean?” Meaghan said and Dean exhaled the breath he
didn’t know he’d been holding. She sounded pissed but
there was no hint of guilt in her tone. So maybe he’d got it
all wrong and all the alcohol and misery had been for nothing.

“
I’m
an idiot?” he ventured.

“
That
goes without saying,” she replied. Her self-righteous tone
further lifted his spirits. If she was cheating on him wouldn’t
she sound more apologetic or guilty? Less like…she wanted to
gut him like a fish?

“
I…came
by the hospital yesterday,” he said slowly, eyes mostly on the
ground as he darted occasional glances at her. “I wanted to
cook you a nice dinner maybe, talk about your day. I heard about the
accident on I-295; the news said most patients were taken to your
clinic. I knew you’d have had a rough day.” He glanced up
and saw that Meaghan’s expression had softened slightly. But
her arms were still crossed and her stance was still combative.

“
So
then I arrive at the hospital and you’re leaving with some guy
who is entirely too solicitous of your welfare. And you take him to
La Trattoria of all places and you guys are looking all cozy and
intimate talking over your cappuccinos…it was…disconcerting,”
Dean continued, looking at her to see how she was taking all this.
She was still listening intently but her arms were loosening up so
that was good…he hoped.

“
So
yeah I followed you. But I texted you and asked you where you were
and you lied to me.
You lied to me
Meaghan. What was I supposed to think? Furthermore, I ask you to come
by and see me last night and you blow me off. What would
you
think?” Dean’s voice had risen throughout this speech as
he remembered his trials and tribulations of the day before.

“
You
couldn’t wait to talk to me before you start throwing around
accusations and insults?” Meaghan asked coldly.

“
I
was blind drunk Megs, I can’t even remember sending those
texts.”

“
Wow,
you’re blaming
drunk texting
?”
she demanded.

“
I’m
not blaming it. I’m just telling you how it was,” Dean
clarified. “Now my head is pounding like a motherfucker and
obviously I was wrong, so if you’re here to break up with me do
it quickly so I can go finish up killing myself.”

Meaghan stared at
him, incredulity in her eyes. He stared back at her waiting. Suddenly
she burst out into loud laughter, bending over and clutching her
stomach with the force of it.

“
God
this is soooo stupid,” she said in between snorts. Dean smiled
tentatively at her.

“
Yeah?”
he asked hopefully.

“
Yeah,”
she replied nodding her head. She straightened up still hiccuping.
“Tell you what, I’ll let you get your rest or your
suicide on, whatever, and we can pick this up when you’re sober
and…not hung-over.”

Meaghan took a step
toward the door but Dean’s hand snaked out and closed around
her wrist. “Wait. You’re not going to explain yourself?”

Meaghan turned to
face him, the glare back in full effect, “Tell you what, we’ll
chalk that one up to you being hung-over, still drunk and filled with
bitterness. It’s your last free pass though. Let go of my
hand.” She bit out every word and her face was thunderous. Dean
slowly let go of her hand and stepped back. Clearly he wasn’t
getting any answers today. Or maybe ever, who knew with Meaghan? She
took the last two steps that brought her to the door and walked out
without another word. Dean waited, swaying on his feet to hear her
footsteps climbing back up the stairs and her opening the door to say
that she was just kidding – of course she would explain and he
should quit being such a baby about everything. Then she’d
maybe put her arms around him and kiss him like she meant it. And he
would kiss her back, whisper apologies into her neck and endearments
into her skin. He would let her know just how much she meant to him
so that she knew that all those insults were just the product of a
breaking heart; he hadn’t actually meant any of them…

He waited and
waited, but she didn’t come back.

Meaghan didn’t
go home; she was too upset and she didn’t want to tell her
mother the whole story. So she went to Bain’s house. She had a
key – for emergencies- which she hadn’t used before; not
wanting to invade his privacy. But if ever there was an emergency,
this was it. She needed a haven to think, go over everything in her
mind and come to a logical conclusion. She unlocked the door and
stepped in turning to close the door behind her and lock it again.
When she turned back, she was astonished to see a man brandishing a
knife at her. It took her a moment to recognize Daniel; as he was
fully clothed with his hair tied back in a ponytail. He was still
handsome as ever, but in a different way than when he was on display
at his place of work. For one thing, he seemed bigger, more manly.
The way he held the knife…Meaghan was quite sure he knew
exactly how to use it.

“
Er…hi?”
she ventured tentatively. “I was just er, looking for Bain.”

Daniel lowered the
knife slowly looking a bit sheepish. “Well, as you can see,
he’s not here – and I’m not expecting him any time
soon either. He went to Baltimore for a site meeting with some new
investors he said. Probably be back in the morning.”

“
Oh
yes, he did tell me he’d be out of town,” Meaghan agreed.
That was actually one of the reasons she’d chosen his house to
go to ground at. Looked like that plan was a bust…it looked
like Bain had decided to take the next step with Daniel after all.

“
Would
you like to visit with me anyway? Bain goes on about what a great
listener you are. Would you mind if I bent your ear for a while? I’ve
got food; and alcohol,” Daniel coaxed. Meaghan smiled; it might
actually be good to listen to someone else’s problems for once
rather than wallowing in her own shit.

“
Sure
I could eat,” Meaghan said with a shrug coming in. obviously
she wasn’t going to get her time of introspection, but maybe
dealing with someone else’s issues could be just as effective
as dealing with her own. Who knows, maybe Daniel might have some
insights as to why Dean was acting like such a dick all of a sudden.
And besides, if Daniel was going to be an important part of Bain’s
life, then they’d do well to get friendly-er.

“
I’ve
prepared meat loaf. Do you like meat loaf?” Daniel called
walking back to the kitchen.

“
Yeah
sure why not?” Meaghan replied because not having tasted
Daniel’s cooking before she wasn't sure what she was in for
exactly. The smells emanating from the kitchen though, were making
her mouth water despite her misery so she has to conclude that he
knew what he’s about. She found Daniel leaning over the stove,
a plate in his hand, serving something out of a pan and moved closer
to see if it was the source of the smell; sure enough, there was a
piece of meatloaf on the plate and it smelled damned good. Meaghan
took the proffered plate and moved to the living room while Daniel
followed with his own plate, and some wine glasses. There was already
a bottle of vino opened on the coffee table and Daniel put down the
glasses on the table and poured some Cabernet Sauvignon into the
glasses. Meaghan lifted her brow impressed at the vintage but also
uncomfortable in drinking Bain’s expensive wines when he wasn’t
there.

“
Does
Bain know you’re raiding his wine cellar?” she asked,
echoes of the conversation she’d had with Bain about Daniel
being a gold digger at the fore front of her mind.

“
Actually
he’s the one who opened this bottle to toast us earlier. I told
him I’d polish it off as a consolation prize for not having him
in my bed tonight.”

“
Aww,”
Meaghan said only half-mockingly.

Daniel smiled and
shrugged, “Aaand we can neatly segue to how he’s been
pulling away from me and then he calls me this morning and he’s
all ‘let’s work things out’…I’m
thrilled. I am. But I don’t understand.”

Meaghan tried to
look as non-committal as possible and not like she’d been
taking Daniel apart with Bain just last night and putting him back
together. Bain hadn’t told her what he intended to do after
their all night therapy session in which they’d destroyed more
than one bottle of expensive wine; but he had said that he felt more
clarity than he’d had in a long time.

“
So
why didn’t you tell him that?” she asked Daniel.

“
I
did; but we were out of time – he had to go or he’d miss
his plane. I’m just asking you Meaghan, if you can fill in some
blanks for me. Just a bit of quid pro quo. I’d owe you,”
he coaxed.

Meaghan studied him
thoughtfully; this was a good time to really explore Daniel’s
motives. Meaghan was a fairly good judge of character, she thought.
She knew Bain, knew that he was conflicted about relationships and
being hurt and getting serious with someone who wasn’t from the
‘country club set’. As much as he lived his life parallel
to theirs, he still craved their approval though he would never admit
it. Even as he went out of his way to choose partners who would never
meet with the approval of either his parents or his peers. Too outré
for most of them; Meaghan knew she was a beneficiary of this twisted
philosophy – she and Bain never would have gotten so close if
he wasn’t fighting this conflicting duality of his personality.
He was attracted to Meaghan because she was an ‘outcast’
in their society. She was from the wrong side of the tracks and her
ancestors certainly hadn’t come over on the Mayflower. Still,
whatever prompted Bain to befriend her, it wasn’t the reason
they were still friends and she knew that too. So now he was
confronted with having real feelings for Daniel while being unsure of
Daniel’s social suitability to be his mate. He might be biased
when speaking on Daniel’s motives; stemming more from wishful
thinking than reality. Wanting Daniel to be using him so he’d
be justified in ditching him when they got too hot and heavy. So
Meaghan could find out what lay on the other side of that equation.
If Daniel was indeed here for what he could get that was one thing
and Meaghan would be the first to kick his ass on Bain’s
behalf. On the other hand, if he had real genuine feelings for Bain
then he needed to understand that any future he envisaged with Bain
might not really come to fruition. Meaghan leaned back in the seat,
body suddenly gone weak as she realized something.

‘
Is
that how it is between Dean and me?’

Was
he using this alleged indiscretion of hers to pull away from her. She
remembered the birthday party his mother had held for him at the
offices of Wesson Diamonds in which all the senior executives were
invited and Samantha Crawford had stood beside him as if they were
still a couple. His workmates had certainly treated her as such; and
so had his mother. Dean had
said
he’d tried his best to extricate himself from the situation
with minimal embarrassment to everyone concerned but Meaghan wasn’t
so sure now. Maybe he’d just played along with the whole farce
because he knew that at the end of the day, Samantha was the ‘right’
one for him and not Meaghan. Maybe this was just-

Meaghan cut off the
thought right there. She’d decided when she was embarking on
this path that this was just a fulfillment of a teenage crush. It
wasn’t about marriage or a future…