The Teacher's Billionaire (22 page)

Hide out.
Never in a million years had she thought she would need to hide out. Then again she never imagined someone like Warren Sherbrooke was her father.

An unexpected burst of anger exploded in her heart. If her mother had never bothered to write that letter none of this would be happening. She wouldn't have reporters staking out her apartment, and hounding her. She wouldn't be nursing a broken heart either. Instead she would be happily living her life as she always had. Perfectly content to think her father was dead. Killed in a car accident as her mom had always claimed.

It's not her fault
. Deep down Callie knew that. Yes her mother wrote the letter and Helen told her the truth, but she'd made the decision to meet her father. She gave Warren the green light to tell the media. No one had forced her to do that. Just like no one had held a gun to her head when it came to getting involved with Dylan. She'd made that disastrous decision all on her own. She could have told him not to call after that first kiss they'd shared. She hadn't been strong enough to. Now she had to pay the price for her lapse in judgment.

Chapter 14

The electric blue Lamborghini she parked next to told her someone besides Warren and Elizabeth was there. Callie just couldn't see either of them driving the over the top car. The black Bentley further down in the garage was more their style.

She dismissed Dylan as its possible owner. It wasn't his style either. He leaned more towards the classy and subtle. There was nothing subtle about an electric blue Lamborghini. That meant it could be Sara's or Jake's; or worse another guest.

“Please don't let it be Sara's,” she prayed turning off the engine. She couldn't deal with her right now.

On second thought maybe another guest wouldn't be the worst thing. If the car belonged to Jake and he turned out to be anything like his sister the next several days would be torturous.

Get moving
.
You're not going to learn anything sitting here.
“Lucky, I'm starting to wish I could stay with you in the kennel.” With a sigh, she opened her car door. Before pulling into the garage, she'd stopped at the kennel and dropped Lucky off. The kennel was attached to what Warren called a stable, although calling it that seemed wrong. It was nicer than her apartment. The kennel too was like none she'd seen before. It consisted of both outdoor and indoor areas. Inside there was a sofa, as well as central air, and music of all things. The outside area was fenced in, and included a small child's size in ground pool for the dog to use. Warren told her the kennel had been designed for Sara's dogs. For some reason Callie couldn't picture her half sister as a dog lover.

Popping open her trunk, Callie reached for her suitcase.

“Don't worry about those. Paul can bring them up to the house for you,” a male voice called out from behind her.

Startled Callie spun around and came face to face with a much younger version of Warren. Even if she hadn't seen pictures of him there would be no mistaking who this was.

Jake.
So much for no other relatives around this weekend.

“Dad is having lunch served in the Tea House for a change. I'm heading down there,” Jake explained his voice friendly. Welcoming actually.

Lunch in the Tea House? He makes it sound like it's something everyone does.
In his world they do, Callie reminded herself. “Okay.” Really what else could she say.

They walked in silence at first. Unsure of her half brother's feelings toward her, Callie decided the less she said the better. While he hadn't displayed any hatred like his sister that didn't mean he was happy about her existence. It just meant he was more mature about the situation.

“Sorry I missed you last time you were here,” Jake said breaking the silence. “I meant to get here, but things got really busy.” He sounded so sincere that Callie couldn't help but believe him.

To bad Dylan hadn't been too busy. She suspected she'd started to fall for him that very weekend.
No thoughts of Dylan allowed today.
“No problem. It was...” Callie paused searching for the right words. That weekend had been so many things. “Overwhelming with everyone else here,” she finally finished.

Jake laughed. “I can imagine.”

Callie could now see the Tea House. She didn't know how she could have missed it before. It was perched overlooking the ocean, and the building looked as if it had been taken directly from China and placed here.

“Wow. When you said Tea House, you really meant it.”

Abruptly Jake stopped. “My...I guess I should say our great grandmother loved Chinese architecture. She had carpenters from China brought here to build it.”

His mini-history lesson didn't surprise her. Those with the means were known for going to great lengths to get exactly what they wanted. “It's beautiful,” she said taking a step forward. “We probably shouldn't keep them waiting.”

Jake shrugged nonchalantly reminding her so much of Dylan. “Dad's used to me being late. If I was ever on time he'd probably have a heart attack.” He paused for a minute. “Callie, I know that you and Sara didn't hit it off,” he said his voice taking on a more serious tone.

She smirked before answering. “Now that's an understatement.”

“She'll come around eventually.”

Callie was glad he didn't try to make any excuses for his sister.

“But I wanted you to know I'm glad you're here.” Looking a little uncomfortable with the discussion he continued on. “If you need anything let me know. We're family now, sis.” The way he said
sis
lightened the atmosphere and made her smile.

She'd always wanted a sibling. Maybe after all all this time she would finally have one.

“So you're all right with this whole situation?”

“It happened a long time ago. Before Dad even meet my mom,” he answered. “I'm just glad you're a woman. One older brother is more than enough,” he finished with a boyish smile very similar to Dylan's. Throwing an arm around her shoulders, he started walking again. “Now lets go eat, I'm starving.”

For the first time since her initial meeting with her father, some of the anxiety about being a part of this family melted. At least someone else besides Warren wanted her there. It was better than nothing.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Relax and try to enjoy your time here.

The inside of the Tea House was just as lavish as the interior of Cliff House. Not that it surprised Callie one bit. Walking into the small structure she actually felt as if she'd just stepped into a tea house in China.

“Callie, it's wonderful to see you,” Warren said coming to his feet as soon as she and Jake entered. Without a moments hesitation he hugged her and dropped a kiss on her check. “And I see you've already meet Jake.”

Warren pulled a chair out for her. Memories of Dylan doing exactly the same thing for her on countless occasions flooded her mind.

You really need to do a better job of not thinking about him.

“He surprised us and showed up last night.”

Lost in her own thoughts, it took Callie a moment to realize Warren referred to Jake who was now sitting next to her.

Please don't let there be any other surprise guests this weekend.
One surprise this weekend was enough.

Reaching for her water glass Callie took a sip, content to sit and listen to the conversation around her. It wasn't like she had anything to add to it anyway. They were talking about politics and the campaign.

“Marty said you did a fantastic job in New York and Ohio, Jake. Our poll numbers among voters under thirty took a definite jump.”

Callie chocked on her water at the mention of Marty Phillips. Overcome by a coughing fit the water in the glass she held sloshed over the sides and all over her shirt.

Jake pried the glass out of her hand. “Are you okay?”

Still coughing Callie could only nod yes until it stopped. “It just went down the wrong way. I'm fine,” she answered once she could speak again.

“Are you sure?” Warren asked sounding concerned.

Feeling embarrassed Callie nodded.

“Do you want to go up and change?” Elizabeth asked eying Callie's wet shirt. Callie thought the older woman had been looking at her oddly since she walked in. And so far Elizabeth hadn't really said much to her.

Does she know?
Her father might not know about Dylan's little arrangement with the campaign adviser but that didn't mean his wife was also in the dark. More importantly did Elizabeth know how involved she and Dylan had been?

Please don't let her know.
A burst of pain and anger exploded in her heart. How she wanted to hate him. But even as angry as she was at Dylan, she just couldn't. Callie hated herself instead. She should have known better.

“We don't mind waiting,” Elizabeth continued to say pulling Callie out of her own thoughts.

“I'm okay. It's just a little water. It'll dry.”

Elizabeth let the matter go. The conversation quickly returned to some upcoming campaign stops Warren was making that month. With only a few months remaining until the election this would most likely be his last time off till after November.

During the meal Callie ate in silence, perfectly happy to listen to the conversation around her. She wasn't big into politics. She followed it enough in the news to know the basics of what was going on and to make an informed decision at the polls, aside from that it held little interest to her. Yet she did find this insiders view into the campaign fascinating.

“Dylan wants to know if we want to have dinner next week when we are in Connecticut,” Elizabeth said changing the topic.

The salt shaker in Callie's hand slipped through her fingers, crashing into the center of her plate. Three sets of eyes turned on her.

“Sorry it slipped,” Callie muttered looking down at her plate. She knew her face was beet red. She could feel it.

Next to her Jake started a new conversation with his father. But Callie could still feel someone's eyes on her. Looking up she meet Elizabeth's steely gray stare. Her eyes were the exact same shade as Dylan's.

Hell, she knows. She knows everything
. Callie couldn't explain it. Yet, she was positive that Elizabeth Sherbrooke knew everything from Dylan's agreement with Phillips to the fact that she and Dylan slept together.

Great. Just great
.
This weekend is going down hill fast
.

When Callie entered the kennel early the next morning Lucky immediately jumped of the couch and bolted straight to her. “Hey there buddy.” Picking up the dog she gave him a quick squeeze. “How about a game of fetch.”

Grabbing a bright yellow tennis ball from a basket of toys, she pushed open the door. The air outside was warm, already close to seventy degrees even though it was barely 8:30. She could hear the crashing waves in the distance. For a moment she closed her eyes, simply absorbing the atmosphere. It was so tranquil and relaxing.

“You're up and about early.”

Opening her eyes she saw Jake coming towards here. Wearing a pair of shorts and a sweat soaked t-shirt, it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess he'd been running.

“I wouldn't call this early. I'm usually at work by now,” she responded tossing the tennis ball. Lucky took off like a shot in hot pursuit.

Jake stopped next to her. “Nice arm,” he commented sounding impressed. “Dylan mentioned you played softball in college.”

Callie picked up the ball Lucky dropped at her feet and pretended to examine it closely. She was surprised Dylan mentioned her to anyone, let alone told them she'd played softball. It wasn't as if they had a real relationship.

How much does he know?
She didn't think anyone other than Marty Phillips, Dylan, and Elizabeth knew about his little agreement. That didn't mean Jake didn't know they'd been intimate. Somehow Sara knew, or at least suspected.

Throwing the ball again she finally answered, “Mostly center field but sometimes I would play right too.”

Jake dropped down to the ground, stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned back on his elbows.

Guess he plans on staying for awhile, she thought once again picking up the ball Lucky dropped at her feet.

“I never played baseball,” he admitted picking at the blades of grass. “Basketball and soccer were my games. And as you can imagine Sara's not exactly into team sports.”

No big surprise there. She couldn't imagine Sara intentionally getting sweaty unless it involved sitting in a steam room wrapped in a big white fluffy towel.

Not waiting for a reply, Jake continued his family history lesson. “Dylan was big into cricket and rugby, although he did play a little basketball too. He probably would've played football if his school in England had a team.”