He Wants Her Back: The Billionaire’s Leading Lady Novel by Jasmine

Letter T

Pierce watched me silently while I waited nervously for his answer. He picked up his wine glass and I wished mine was filled with the same instead of juice.

When he had drunk a sizable amount, he placed his glass back down. “Let me play along with your little imagination for a second.” He leaned back in his chair. “Sure. If I said you should pay me back, where would you get that kind of money?”

“I could return the gifts…” I still had all of them. Each jewelry piece was safe in their boxes in my drawer. I would keep them in my heart if it had been possible. The chocolates no refund on that. “and as for the money, I could pay in installments-”

I heard a weird sound, then again, and realized that he was laughing. At me

Embarrassed I looked down.

I

“You are a funny woman, Myra.”

“I wasn’t trying to be.” I muttered.

Really? it sounded like you were. It’s extra funny because a week ago, I could swear you loved the gifts and other perks that came with the Blackwood name, why are you acting like your life is misery all of a sudden?” I remained silent. “I’ll tell you what.”

I raised my head to look at him, interested in what he had to say next. Laughter lingered in his eyes. “1 add fifty percent extra to your allowance, and you go back to normal. Adams won’t be able to offer you that.”

“What’s normal?”

“Oh you know, the you, that didn’t invite me to attend all her shows when you know I would not make it, in order to get a gift, the you before you became this manipulative matter of fact I’ll double the allowance. Just so I can get some peace here, that’s the whole point of our arrangement Myra, I can’t deal with drama here, and in my life too.”

Guess I wasn’t hiding my affections for Pierce as well as I thought I was, but my heart broke at the fact that he thought all the times I got sad was just me trying to manipulate him for a gift. What if I just told him? That all the times I invited him out, was because I was proud to be with him, because I loved him. Get it all out in the open. What would he think then? I opened my mouth to speak and shut it again.

He kept us separate. He said drama here and in his life–I wasn’t a part of what he considered his life. Delegated to the sidelines once again. I swallowed my confession back down.

“Did you handle the problem your mum called you about?” I asked him instead, picking my fork back up.

His eyes searched mine briefly, and this time I saw the wheels turning in his head. He was thinking that I was yielding to him, becoming the Myra that he wanted because he had appeased me with the up in allowance.

I waited for him to tell me he solved his problem, so I could go back to eating, hoping that when we were done, I could pretend I was exhausted and go to bed.

“I have, Connor can be a dick sometimes.” He muttered.

“Connor?” Was Pierce actually volunteering Information about his family. “That’s your cousin, right?” I ran through the notes in my head, Connor Blackwood… second son of Mark, Pierce’s uncle.

“That Connor.” Then he went silent. Like he had realized his mistake. I didn’t ask anymore questions either, or guess my way into figuring what was up. We both were comfortable eating in silence.

Till his cell rong. That thing had interrupted us more in the past week than it had the two years I was with Pierce. I caught a glimpse of the letter T before he turned it to him, I could spell out the rest of the name myself.

He looked at the screen briefly and then shoved the phone into his pocket after silencing the call.

“This was lovely, I have a…I’ll call you when I need you” He got up and planted a kiss on my head.” Hopefully the next time I see you, I’ll be getting the old Myra back.”

“Goodbye Pierce.” I managed to say stoically. When he was gone I melted into my seat.

My eyes fell on Pierce’s glass with wine in it. Lord knows I needed it. I groaned, tossing my napkin onto my barely eaten food, and abandoned the kitchen.

He was already gone, so I locked the doors, stripped and got into bed.

I was wiping my face off in makeup, two days later when Hannah walked in. I couldn’t tell from her face if she had good or bad news to give me, but I knew we could not talk ‘work‘ as long as other actors were in the room with us. She grabbed the wipe out of my hand and helped me with my ears.

“What are you supposed to be?” she asked as she worked on erasing the orange makeup.

“A cheetah,” I answered.

“She gets tricked by Abby into joining a weird girl–cult. Mckenzie piped up beside me with a smile. She had wiped off most of her cheetah makeup, but the fluffy ears were still perched on top of her head, “It’s my favorite scene ever.”

“You say that about all the scenes you’re in.” her bestfriend added as she pulled her top over her boobs. Come on, lattes are a–waiting.”

Mckenzie waved us goodbye and slung her bag over her shoulder, before they both left, the scent of her perfume, lingering in the air.

We were alone.

Hannah reached out for another wipe.

“Tell me you have good news.” I asked.

“Sure, as long as you tell me when last you had a good meal. I thought these cheekbones were part of the painting, I was wrong…

“I had spicy cheetos this morning.” I recounted, “and soda, but I puked after so it doesn’t count.”

“I said a good meal.”

“I haven’t been feeling very hungry lately. “everyday that passed we were one more day closer to dad’s

+25 BONUS

release and I still had not figured out what to do.

“You need to eat. If not for you then for.”

The door creaked open and stopped abruptly like someone had stopped it from going all the way. My blood ran dry at the implication. When I glanced at Hannah she had a similar expression on her face. Someone was listening in to our conversation.