The Billionaire's Mistaken Mistress - Part 2 (Contemporary BWWM Romance) (3 page)

              The looks of pity that Melanie gave Jessie when she showed up for work the next day were almost unbearable. Melanie had clearly seen her with John Harwood and, even with her limited brainpower, was able to piece together that something was up between them. The rumor mill had been running full-steam and it didn't take long for Melanie to learn that the two had gone on a date only for John to rush off with his wife the very next day.

              “I'm sorry, Jessie,” she empathized in the back room as they put on their aprons and prepared to begin yet another grueling shift. “Seriously, I am. People like the Harwoods, though... What do you expect? Rich assholes don't live in the real world like we do.”

              “Eh, don't worry about it. I wasn't expecting a fairytale ending. That's not my dream. Maybe I used him a bit, too,” Jessie replied, attempting to put a somewhat positive spin on things.

              “Maybe,” Melanie said, solemnly, as she left the room.

              Jessie wiped a tear from her eye and was glad Melanie had left before noticing it. She'd have to put on a good show of being strong, that much was certain. The truth was, she had fallen deeply in love with John the very moment she had laid eyes on him. It had nothing to do with his money but more so his demeanor, and his incredible looks also did her in.

              A week went by, and Jessie still hadn't received a call from John. When two weeks went by, she was tempted to call his office again to see if he had returned from Italy. By the time three weeks had rolled around, she had given up all hope of ever hearing from the man again and admitted defeat. She hated knowing that she had allowed herself to be manipulated by a man she was foolish enough to sleep with on their first night out. She was usually smarter than that, and to make matters worse she hadn't even used any protection when they were together. She couldn't believe she had made such a stupid move and chastised herself for it every single day.

              Six long weeks later, Jessie was still feeling used, bitter, and lonely. She wished she could stop herself from remembering his combination of strength and tenderness as he made love to her. Far too often her mind would drift back to that night, and although she knew the memory would fade in time, for now it was as vivid as if it had happened the previous night. She so clearly remembered his eyes, his smile, his laugh, and even his smell. She may have been partially intoxicated at the time, yet she could still recall every detail of their one night together.

              “You stupid girl!” An angry female voice snapped Jessie out of her daydream and brought her hurdling back to the reality of Burt's Diner.

              Because she didn't have her mind on the job, Jessie had walked straight into the back of a customer who had stopped at the register to pay her bill. The hot bowl of soup Jessie was carrying now dripped down the woman’s cream-colored blouse.

              “I'm so, so sorry,” Jessie said, fighting back tears.

              “Why don't you watch where you're going?” The woman sneered.

              “You just stopped suddenly...” Jessie started, but before she could finish the sentence she sensed Burt behind her and began to mop up the mess she had made by grabbing a handful of napkins and dabbing them on the woman's blouse. The woman became increasingly agitated, waving her hands and shooing Jessie away with a look of disgust on her face. Melanie had heard the commotion and darted over to begin cleaning the floor with a roll of paper towels, a kind gesture that definitely surprised Jessie.

              Despite her efforts to defuse the situation, Burt crooked his finger, signaling for Jessie to follow him out back.

              “Burt, it wasn't my fault,” she began to apologize while Burt still had his back to her. He swung around and studied her face for a brief moment.

              “Your mind isn't on the job, Jessie. I'm going to have to take this out of your wages.” Jessie hung her head in shame. “If you do something like this again, you know what will happen, right? I gave you a second chance against my better judgment.”

              “Burt, it won't happen again… I…” Jessie slapped her hand to her mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous.

              “What's wrong with you, girl?” Burt took a step back, his eyes wide with concern. “You don't look right.”

              “I don't feel...” Stopping the sentence short, she again covered her mouth and rushed to the bathroom just in time to throw up into the toilet. She barely made it; the entire contents of her stomach coming out in violent bursts that left her dizzy and weak.

              With her eyes runny and red, Jessie clumsily made her way to the sink and let the cold water run fast, catching handfuls of it and soaking her face. She hoped each splash would miraculously help her feel better, but it was of no use. The water didn't help one bit.

              “How you doing?” Melanie asked with the door ajar and her head peeking into the bathroom.

              “I'm fine, thanks,” Jessie answered without looking up.

              “When did you last see that John Harwood guy?” Melanie asked her.

              “Why do you want to know?” Jessie replied while wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

              “Does he know you're pregnant?” Melanie questioned in a hushed tone.

              “What? What are you talking about? I'm not pregnant,” Jessie assured her while trying to fight off a second wave of sickness.

              “How long have I known you, girl? Long enough to know I've never seen you sick a day in your damn life. You don't even get the common cold. You're as hard as nails, child. Don't you tell me all that rushin' in here ain't because you're knocked-up.”

              Jessie lowered her head and processed Melanie's words. It was true that she rarely got sick, and like an idiot she hadn't used any birth control when John had pumped her full of his seed.

              “Shit. I think you're right. I'm late. Shit, I'm so fucking late. I don't believe this,” Jessie said while gripping the sides of the sink and staring at her reflection in the bathroom's beat up mirror. “I let my guard down for one minute with some lying, cheating guy, and this is what happens. I figured I was just late because school and this dump have been stressing me out.”

              “You better get back to work.” Melanie whispered. “Burt sent me after you. He's running out of patience.” Melanie stood holding the door open. “Looks like you got a decision to make.”

              Jessie followed Melanie out, adjusting her apron and slapping on a fake smile.

              “All right. I'm coming, I'm coming.”

              “I don't mean that decision. I mean – you know.” Melanie pointed at Jessie's stomach. It had now been six weeks since she'd slept with John, which was far too early to be showing yet. Still, in six weeks she hadn't heard a word from the guy whose child she was likely carrying and that spelled trouble. She held out hope that she simply caught a mild stomach bug and wasn't really pregnant. She wouldn't know for sure until her shift ended and she could pick up a test at the pharmacy down the street. The next few hours were the longest of her life.

              Jessie grew increasingly surprised at the help and support Melanie continued to offer in her precarious situation. She felt it might be the girl's way of apologizing for all the grief she'd caused by her sending the bogus tweets and setting off the chain of events leading to her pregnancy. A pregnancy, Jessie recounted, that had been confirmed via four separate tests taken over the course of two long days. If Melanie had kept her scheming, immature ways to herself, Kimberly Harwood wouldn't have stormed into the diner that day, Jessie would have never been fired, and she certainly would have never crossed paths with the man whose baby she was now carrying. Melanie was undoubtedly the catalyst that set everything into motion, yet given how kind she was being, Jessie found it hard to hold it against her. Even if her understanding and compassion were out of guilt, she was still the only person Jessie had to lean on.

              “How are you feeling today, girl?” Melanie asked.

              “All right, I guess.”

              Their late shift at the diner had just ended, and they had both left at the same time leaving Burt balancing the till.

              “You decide if you're gonna' keep it?” Melanie looked at Jessie.

              “I can't,” she replied.

              “Then when are you going to... you know?”

              “It's hard. It's not an easy thing to do. I'm doing it because I can't look after a baby on my own. Still, it's not so easy to just go ahead and do it,” Jessie explained.

              “You got college to think about,” Melanie added with sincere concern.

              “I know,” Jessie replied with a sigh.

              They hadn't walked far when Melanie stopped in her tracks and faced Jessie in the dim light with a sullen look on her face.

              “You know, I've always envied you, Jessie,” she confessed.

              “Envied me? I thought you hated me.” Jessie was shocked by her coworker's admission.

              “Nah, it ain't hate. I just seen how well you were doing with your schooling and everything. We come from the same place, but you're doing something with your life. When you get your degree and you leave this place, I'll be growing old at that damn diner.”

              “No you won't, Melanie. You've just got to think bigger,” Jessie replied reassuringly.

              “You mean like you?”

              “Something like that,” Jessie shrugged and looked down at her belly. “Although look at where all of my thinking got me.”

              “Shit, girl, you right. Not about you getting knocked-up. That shit happens all the time to ghetto girls like us. I mean, like, about thinking bigger. Maybe not John Harwood big, though. That white fool sure did get one over on you,” Melanie said, pointing at Jessie's stomach.

              “It could have happened to anyone.
With
anyone. Billionaire or no billionaire. I just screwed up and let my guard down. I was wrong about him. He made me feel like... he told me that...” Jessie trailed off, lost in her own disjointed thought.

              “That he loved you?” Melanie asked.

              “He never used the words, but if it wasn't love then he sure as shit is a good actor,” Jessie confided as she felt her heart sink.

              “You fell in love him, didn't you?” Melanie stood staring at Jessie, a look of sympathy on her face that hinted she, too, had once fallen for a man who had chewed her up and spit her out.

              Jessie didn't answer.

              “Don't worry, child. I haven't told a soul. Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you.”

              Jessie smiled affectionately at her new friend, her eyes beginning to tear up. “Thank you, Melanie. I don't have anyone else to turn to. I'm… I'm so scared.”

              “I know you are. And I realized the moment you got fired what a total bitch I've been to you. It wasn't fair of me. I know I can be overly jealous, but what's happened to you is, well, it's too much,” Melanie opened up, her eyes beginning to water as well.

              “I can't blame the pregnancy on you, as much as I'd like to.” Jessie gave a weak laugh.

              “I take it you ain't heard nothing from John?”

              “Not a word. The last thing I knew he was in Italy,” Jessie replied in a mumble while wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

              “Well, shit, everyone knows that,” Melanie said flippantly.

              “What do you mean, everyone? Why would everyone know that?”

              Melanie's mouth dropped open and her brow raised in disbelief. “Didn't you hear about Kimberly Harwood's accident in Italy?”

              Jessie turned to face her. A large van trundled by, causing a gust of wind to blow down the street and sending shivers coursing through her entire body. She pulled her sweater tightly around her as she pleadingly looked at Melanie for further explanation.

              "Well? Was John involved? Is he okay?” Jessie's voice was slow and measured despite her concern.

              “He's fine, Jessie. You need to catch up on the celebrity news. I thought you knew, and that's why you were gonna' have an abortion.”

              “I don't understand. What does Kimberly's accident have to do with me?” Jessie asked in confusion.

              “Because John Harwood supposedly hasn't left her side.” Melanie explained. “It was a mountain expedition or some shit. John was out with a group of people on some mountain slope, and Kim tried to surprise him by following him and meeting up with the group. Only problem was, the dumb bitch hired a guide who knew less about hiking up a damn mountain than she did. She was trying to track John down to declare her love for him and win him back or something. All I know is she got hurt after falling off a rock, I think it was. Jesus, girl, how have you not heard about this? It was a pretty big story a few days ago. I haven't heard nothing' about it in the last day or two, so I have no idea what's going on right now.”

              Jessie shook her head in disbelief, trying hard to process the incredible story she'd just heard. Why was Kimberly Harwood trying to win back the affection of her husband if she had told that obnoxious interviewer everything was peachy between them? She had stated that right before leaving for Italy, so something wasn't adding up, and she suspected Melanie had simply relayed the incident incorrectly.

              “I haven't had time to follow the news in a while.” Jessie said, staring off into nothing as she spoke. “All I've done is study, work, and go to sleep. I wanted to try to forget all about him. But, wait. If he's been by her bedside the entire time, that means...”

              “That he still loves her? I'm sorry, Jessie.” Melanie studied Jessie's face, trying to gauge how much comforting the girl would need after hearing this heart-wrenching news.

              Jessie smiled and tried to shake off the growing feeling of pain in her heart. “It's fine. At least I know where I stand, right? It just makes the decision to get rid of the baby that much easier.”

              “Jessie, I...”

              “Look, Melanie, isn't that your bus?” Jessie interrupted her. “You better get across the road and stop it.”

              “Yeah, I guess you're right,” Melanie replied, looking both ways and crossing quickly. The bus was approaching fast. “I'll see you tomorrow!” Melanie shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth in an attempt to heighten the volume of her voice. The loud bus pulled up in front of her, obscuring her from Jessie who stood on the other side of the road, still bewildered by the news of Kimberly Harwood's accident.

              A few blocks later, Jessie found herself seated on the familiar bench of her own bus stop and staring down at the ground while mulling over how crazy her life had become. She had met and instantly fallen in love with a celebrity. A billionaire celebrity, at that, and a hair over one week later they had unprotected sex that left her with child. It seemed surreal, but it had actually happened and now her life was in shambles. She would have definitely considered keeping the baby if she had John's support. Jessie knew damn well that if she tried raising the baby without his help, she'd wind up just another statistic. A young, black woman with a child whose father wasn't in the picture. With a part-time job and no family to help her out, there's no way she'd be able to finish college. She'd be like so many of the neighborhood girls she grew up with who never achieved their dreams thanks to the broken promises of manipulative men. The blame wasn't solely on the guys, either. The fault was also on these girls for falling for the same old lines. Jessie had always prided herself in being smarter than that, yet in the end it turned out she wasn't.

              From somewhere outside her growing cloud of despair, Jessie heard the rumbling of the oncoming bus, and with a blank downwards stare began walking towards the curb. Each step brought her closer to the street and closer to a possible solution to the problems she was facing. It would be a permanent solution, that much was definite, but she felt so lost and empty inside that it seemed to be her best option. She had screwed up her life beyond repair, and had become one of the women she'd fought so hard not to be. She didn't even have the money for an abortion, and even if she did manage to scrounge up the cash, would she ever be able to live with herself if she went through with it? These thoughts rushed through her mind as she stepped off the curb and blindly into the street.

              Jessie was snapped out of her depressed daze by the sound of a horn blaring mixed with somebody shouting wildly. The sounds were coming from two opposing directions, and Jessie quickly identified the horn as belonging to the large truck she had confused with her bus. A split second later she recognized the sound of someone repeatedly screaming her name, and turned her head to see an SUV parked just down the street with a man leaning out the window.

              “Jessie! Jessie! Stop! Jessie!”

              It was Burt, and at the sight of him Jessie quickly hopped back onto the curb as the truck whizzed by, her heart racing as the reality of what she was about to do came crashing down on her. With her adrenaline pumping and her head spinning, she barely felt the firm hands wrap around her shoulders. Burt had bolted from his vehicle at a breakneck speed and had reached her within seconds. As her mind cleared, she looked at him in shame, humiliated by her own selfish actions.

              “What the hell are you doing?” Burt barked at her, winded from his short sprint down the street. She took in the familiar smell of his cigarette brand and could smell the fried food on his clothes as well. “You want to kill yourself or what?”

              “Burt, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. The bus would have stopped anyway. I would have been fine…”

              “That wasn't a bus, that was a damn Mack truck!” Burt still had a tight hold on her shoulders as his voice softened to a caring, comforting tone. “Boy, from where I was, I thought you were a gonner for sure. Are you all right?”

              “Just tired, I guess,” Jessie said, shaking from a combination of her nerves and the cold.

              Burt released his grip and Jessie looked up and down the street, now quiet again with the truck out of earshot. The magnitude of what she'd come inches away from doing sunk in and she began sobbing uncontrollably. Burt wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, patting the back of her head gently and almost fatherly.

              “There, there. It's okay, now. You're safe. If you're so tired you almost get yourself killed, then maybe you need to take a day off. You've been working too many shifts. Maybe it's too much with all your school work, too.”

              Jessie buried her head into his chest as she wept, relief washing over her that Burt had viewed her potential suicide as little more than an accident brought on by sleep deprivation.

              “Come on,” Burt said with a warm smile. “My car's right there. I'll drive you home. You know, you're damn lucky that I saw you and was able to stop in time,” he added.

              Jessie followed silently by Burt's side, shocked by this warm side of him she'd never seen before. He may be a stickler in his restaurant, but outside he was surprisingly caring.

              “Jessie, I'm sure you've got a lot on your plate right now,” Burt said as they pulled away. “But I don't want to lose my best waitress.”

              “Best waitress?” she replied, turning to him with a raised eyebrow. “If I'm your best waitress, why did you fire me?”

              “Because you've got a big mouth and a bad temper.” He glanced at her and smiled wide, adding, “Just like me.”

              They both erupted in laughter, and in that moment Jessie felt that everything would somehow be okay. First Melanie, and now Burt, had revealed that people did care about her.

              “Seriously, Jessie. It didn't take that rich tycoon coming into the diner after I'd fired you to make me realize my mistake. I wanted to chase after you the minute you walked out the door and apologize.”

              “And why didn't you?” she asked, genuinely curious what his explanation would be.