Bound to the Billionaire

Chapter Eleven: Things Go A Little South

 The man owned a beautiful hotel. He owned a lot of beautiful things, apparently. I'd catered on the bottom floor, the ball room, but I'd never dared step in the elevator. I guess I thought I'd choke on all the money fumes. Rich people had always intimidated me: until I had to suck-up and roll-over in their company to put my bakery on the map, I'd run away at the sight of a Gucci strap. 

But here I was. I blinked painfully in the clear glass elevator, jammed in tight up with Nico on one shoulder, Jenna pressed to the other, smacking gum like a cow chewing cud. 

As we slinked past floor of cool balconies and lush carpets I couldn't help press my fingertips to my temples. I didn't have time for this. I didn't have time for my pack to be happily murmuring about their free stay they got off the man I didn't know how I felt about. I didn't have time for them, time for him, time for the attack, time for this. 

10,000 dollars. That's how much it cost to get my dad's hardware shop up to code as a bakery. Most of it had been money I'd been putting away for years, all the way from my first summer jobs I'd had at sixteen. And then, when I was older, I'd pulled night shifts at the bar before waking up early for technical school. I'd walked dogs, scrubbed floors, rigged my computer to fill out surveys while I slept so I'd make a couple bucks before the morning. Hell, I'd stripped in front of cameras. Humiliated myself for viewers just for a few extra bucks. 

10,000 dollars. That was nothing to Nico. My sweat, my pain. Nothing. A fraction of nothing, compared toa the billions I knew he had. Sweat rolled down my face, my hands trembled. 

And we kept going up and up. His hand wrapped around mine; my wolf melted. That foreign happiness rose into my chest, a feeling I had tried so very hard to tamp down but wouldn't. It made me warm, tingly on the inside. Very disconnected to the thought that wouldn't leave my brain. I have a shop to open Tuesday. I don't have time for this. 

At last, the elevator come to a stop. It opened to marble floors and soaring silk screens, the smell of lavender and sweet sweet honeysuckle like a warm embrace. Between each door  stood mahagony endtables laden with flowers. I'd never seen such vibrant purples and gentle yellows. Nico loved his pretty things. 

"Room 146B," he said as he slid a glossy white card to Jenna. "And Room 148," he added with a wink toward Cole, who was tugging at his sleeves and staring at his boots. Jenna took a big gulp, probably swallowed her gum, and then burst into to a happy little squeal. 

"For us? Are you going to show us our room?"

"I'd love to," Nico started with a smile. With him, it was hard to tell when he was being genuine and when he wasn't. Those black eyes hid so much, but when he smiled it lit up his whole face. The corners of his eyes softened just enough, his mouth stretched to expose the gentlest dimples. He hated my pack, had threatened to kill them, but in this moment you couldn't tell. 

That chilled me. 

"I have to show Dimitri to his room."

"Oh." Jenna twisted a strand of hair around her finger, bouncing up on to the toes of her beat-up sneakers. She winked a manicured brow at me. "I see."

"Jenna shut the f**k up!" Ground teeth, a little bit of spit flying. I didn't have time for her, and I didn't want to pretend like I did. The anger in me pushed up against the happy chemicals my wolf churned for me, and focusing on keeping them away drew every ounce of patience from me. I didn't want to smile at her shitty joke. I wanted to wrap my hands around her little neck and squeeze. 

"Gets a mate and thinks he can be all uppity." Jenna shook her head as she stepped out of the elevator; I leaned forward, I don't know why, maybe to cuss her out,  but Nico caught a hold of my arm. His eyes bored into mine. I knew he didn't want me to mess with her, I could tell in his grip. And something in me wanted to obey him. 

A little growl left my throat as the doors slid back shut. "She's unbearable," Nico said, still smiling. His face still looked genuine, he still looked like he liked her. "But I'm sure you don't want anything bad to happen to them."

"No," I said, deflating back into his chest. He felt so warm, the flex and fall of him wonderful to my wolf. I wanted to press up against him, lay my head against his ticking heart, and breathe. But I couldn't. My bakery. I had to think about my bakery. All this mate stuff could wait, and anyway, I didn't want one, right? "Where are  you taking me, anyway?" I squinted up at him. 

"The penthouse."

My heart dropped into my stomach. I'd never been in a penthouse before, who would invite me into one of those? I'd been raised poor, worked for every cent, and now this money, these things were being poured upon me. I should've taken them, open-armed, all sweet-eyed and grateful. 

Instead, my chest tightened. I'd always seen myself as this scrappy, broken thing, scrabbling to survive. I saw myself as a stray.

Nico saw me as a pet; something to pamper, something to spoil.

"Why are you doing this for me?" I let my eyes fall to my shoes. "I'm nothing and you're everything. Maybe me being a hybrid glitched the Moon Goddess out or something. Maybe I'm not really your mate."

The elevator door slid open, and my breath caught. It opened into the very middle of the penthouse living room.  Black marble walls, black walls, a floating fireplace, everything black. The faint smell of cigars and the second hand feeling that someone powerful lived here. 

"Sometimes you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for a very long time." Nico's voice was so soft, so gentle, it felt like he was afraid he'd scare me away. "And sometimes, you might want to spend a little time with that person."

My shoulders slacked. Maybe I had a little time. Maybe, just for a few hours, I could live in a gilded cage. Maybe I could make an okay pet.