Falling for My Billionaire Best Friend

TRINITY

“Hello, love. Fancy meeting you again.” The woman calls Bash as if they know her very well.

What’s catches my attention is her thick English Londoner. My officemates look at her like she’s a supermodel. Well, she can be a supermodel if the baby bump is not visible.

“Dana?” Bash knows her, of course. His voice explains that he’s surprised to see her, and he looks terribly shocked.

Dana? The Dana? His ex? And pregnant? If I have to guess, I think she’s in her second trimester. Bash came back just the last three months.

Dana throws herself to Bash, hugging him tightly like everyone around is invisible. Bash still looks shocked with his brows furrowed. He looks at her from head to toe then back to her face then to her belly.

I swallow hard, and my eyes instantly fill with tears. I wish I can control my emotion, but when I feel sad and upset, my eyes are always the first to respond. My gaze meets Sean’s, and he looks shocked too. I can feel the sympathy in his gaze towards mine while Bash forgets about me.

They’re busy catching up like we don’t even exist As if only the two of them are in this room, on this floor, and in this building.

The Trinity is back to be a wallflower that no one noticed.

I feel my tears fall to my cheeks. I can’t take this anymore. I’ve just celebrated my engagement, and now he has someone who got pregnant.

My last engagement didn’t go well. Now, it didn’t go well as well.

What curse do I have?

My high-heels create sounds on the entire floor, but Bash doesn’t even notice that I’m already leaving.

Instead of going to the elevator where he proposed hours ago, I use the stairs to avoid bumping into someone.

“Kiara!” I startle when I hear Sean calls my name.

“Kiara, wait!”

I continue walking down the stairs, ignoring Sean.

We’re still on the 12th floor, and I’m already catching my breath. Blame to my lazy ass for not even stepping on a treadmill and for refusing to join Bash to run.

“Kiara, wait! Stop!”

I stop, shaking into a cry. I cup my face with my hands to suppress my sob. I don’t want to create another scene. I feel arms wrap around my body, and I cry into Sean’s chest.

“Hush, Kiara. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out, but I think you two should talk.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious, but I don’t need it right now, Sean.”

He’s rubbing my back. “Don’t jump to conclusions again, Kiara.”

I freeze. “What do you mean again?” I ask as I stare at him. I know I look like a mess, and my mascara smeared, but I don’t care.

“Remember how we met at the airport? Bash told me about that.  Let him explain, Kiara. That man is madly in love with you,” he says with full of sincerity in his voice.

“You just told me that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist.”

He chuckles. “I know but it doesn’t mean it’s his. She shouldn’t have waited for long to tell Bash. Why now?”

“Please, I need to go. I need to be somewhere, and I can’t take this. I just get engaged, and now I found out my fiancé has knocked up someone else.”

“I just told you not to jump to conclusions.”

“Bye, Sean.” I release his arms, step back, and start walking down the stairs.

“Kiara, let me help you get out of here.”

“I don’t need you, Sean!” I yell out but he doesn’t seem to listen.

He grabs my arms. “You will collapse before you’ll reach the 8th floor with your condition, sweetheart,” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?” I look up at him.

“That’s what friends do, Kiara. Did you forget already? How did you save my life? I owe you one, and you are the reason why I have real friends. You are the reason why my father has forgiven me. Instead of being frenemies with Hughes and King, I have real friends now. I owe you big time, and I don’t even know how to replay you.”

***

Sean brings me to his home. He said that nobody knows this place except his dad and his security, but he makes sure that no one will share that information.

I wash my face with cold water, and my eyes ache from crying. He even let me cry on his shoulder during our flight to his home. We flew by Rexwell’s helo.

“Kiara, Bash keeps calling me. I think he saw the video in the parking lot. I lied and told him that I dropped you at your apartment.”

I nod while patting my face dry. “I can’t thank you enough.”

He smiles at me—a smile of sympathy.

“I don’t need your pity-look, Sean.” I place the towel on top of the dresser.Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

“Who says I pity you? Did you forget what I said? That I’m here when you two broke up?” He smirks.

“You sonofabitch! Did you call that skank to my engagement party?” I push him hard and he hits his back against the walk-in closet. “How could you, you asshole? How could you? I shouldn’t have trusted you. I want to get out of this freaking house! I want to go back home, Rexwell!” I yell my anger out loud while I’m hitting him anywhere I can.

“Do you feel better now?” he suddenly asks with furrowed brows, but he doesn’t look angry. “How do you feel, Kiara?” he asks again, and this time he looks serious.

I can see him clenching his jaw, scrutinizing me.

“You know I value my friendship with Bash, and I will never do that to hurt him, to hurt you. Right now, that man is driving everyone crazy, looking for you. The whole security team of Hughes and King is searching for you. If he knows that I am keeping you here, boom! He will not trust me again. Do you understand what I put myself into?” He doesn’t break eye contact with me.

I nod slowly.

“I never met that woman, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Change into something. I place you a t-shirt and sweatpants, but I know it’s big for you so, I place boxers too. Maybe that will fit. Meet me in the dining room.” He then walks away.

What was I thinking? I feel guilty for accusing him. He helped me in getting away from that building, and I didn’t even think twice that he risked his friendship with Bash just to help me.

I walk out of the room where I’m going to spend the night alone. I pull off the engagement ring from my finger. I can’t wear that while my relationship with Bash is unclear. I can’t let him marry me if he gets someone impregnated.

“Hi, Sean. I’m sorry about earlier,” I say quietly, twisting my fingers at my back.

“It’s alright, Kiara. Let’s have dinner.” He pulls an empty chair to his right side.

We have dinner in silence. He must have noticed that I don’t touch much of my food. It makes me queasy, and my mind always comes back to what happened earlier. My eyes sting every time I think about Bash and that pregnant woman.

After our dinner, I carry a glass of red wine into his house’s back porch. The evening is so peaceful even though I can’t see many stars and even the moon is in its waxing crescent.

I drink the remaining wine in my glass.

“I didn’t bring you here to get drunk.” I don’t even notice Sean comes in. He sits beside me on the sofa.

“Then you shouldn’t let me drink,” I say sarcastically. I feel drained from crying, from thinking, and from my unsettling emotions.

“Everything will be okay, Kiara. I told you not to—”

“Jump to conclusions, and you’ve said that like ten times already,” I cut him off.

“Have you watched the news lately?” he asks, and my head snaps to his side.

Sean is crossing his leg over the other. He looks handsome like before with a five o’clock shadow. I guess that’s his signature look.

“Don’t look at me like you admire me. I still value my friendship with your fiancé.” He smirks again.

“You’re so full of yourself!” I snort. It still hurts to hear the word fiancé.

“He loves you, Kiara. He never stopped babbling something about you every time we met. He’d been planning on how he’s going to propose to you. Sometimes he’s so pussy-whipped. No, actually, he is pussy-whipped all the time. He frowned a lot every time when you didn’t reply to his messages, and it’s annoying. He was with us, but his mind is with you.” He chuckles, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to pull himself closer to me.

“I like you since before, Kiara, but he never gave me a chance. That’s how he dated the girl I wanted to date since he didn’t let me get closed to you. He wanted to teach me lessons, and that girl just disappears out of the blue.”

My eyes widen with his confessions. “You like me since before?” I ask with disbelief.

He nods, laughing. “He warned me many times to stay away from you. I even asked someone to let Kyland send you home that night because I found out that he came back from the U. K to make a move on you. He told everyone to watch over you; Xandry, Pyke, Dean, and your best friends. But I don’t know why he didn’t stop your ex. I mean your late ex-fiancé.”

I can’t believe he did that. Bash never told me about this before. He told me he loves me since before, but he never mentioned it since he went to college.

“How did you know all of these?” I ask out of curiosity. At least I know something about Bash’s true feelings for me. I don’t think Sean will lie to me when I am this vulnerable.

“You never notice why nobody asked you out on a date? Did anybody ask you to dance and even the fucking prom? He beat everyone and warned everyone he knew who has planned on asking you out.” He barks out to laugh.

“I can’t believe you two are so dumb. Bash doesn’t have an idea that you love him since then, and his eyes almost pop out when Xandry told him that you are just waiting for him to ask you out. His jaw dropped literally. He looked like just lost a million dollars. We laughed our ass out loud.”

I hit his arm, glaring. “Why the hell are you all talking about me?”

“Because he asked us what do you like. What is the romantic way of proposing you, some shit like that.” He grins sheepishly. “It’s late already, sweetheart. I think we call this a night. You need some rest.”

I nod, kissing him on his cheek. “Thanks for sharing.”

He nods, and I walk away from the porch heading to the room where I’m gonna sleep alone tonight.

***

I feel something heavy draped around my waist and warm breath tickling on my exposed neck.