Page 72 of Holiday Home 4

“Well,” Avril said, sounding more earnest than joking, “it’s about a billion dollars, so, yeah,a lotof money. Most people don’t seem to have put much thought into how much a billionaire has. What it allows them to do, to buy, to circumvent. Anna’s family, they have a Cessna. A Citation CJ3, I think. One of the newer variants, too, so I bet it goes for five or six million. It can probably carry a handful of people, is probably around fifty feet long, and might be pretty fast.

“When we go on this trip next weekend, we’ll be flying in the smaller of my family’s private jets. A Bombardier Global, the 6500. It can seat seventeen, is about a hundred feet long, has a kitchen, private suite, and shower, and costs about fifty million dollars. Oh, and it can make the trip to Fiji, allowing us to sleep comfortably during it. Arnold Royce would fall into the Pacific about halfway through the trip if he tried to tail us. So, Evelyn can’t even use the family jet for her trip to Bora, Bora. She’ll have to rent one that can.”

Avril twirled a finger, then pointed it down, sending it into an imitation of a spiraling plane heading toward the ocean. Her fingers spread apart in an explosion once it had hit the invisible surface.

“Millionaires, and the shitty, little, bastard children of millionaires,” Avril said, clearly referring to Trent and his cohorts, “know the difference. They know my family flies in jets worth more than their net worth. As Victoria might say, it’s awhole different ecosystem. Like comparing… I don’t know, a stag beetle and a termite.” She waved a dismissive hand through the air, giving up on making a comparison that might have made Victoria proud. “It’s just a lot. Like comparing normal airline pilots to astronauts. It’s just a different breed—a different world. Sharks and oversized minnows,” she announced, clapping her hands together. “There we go. We got there.”

Liam noticed something during her detailed explanation, which kind of tapered off slightly at the end. It was an odd thing to see, a specific emotion. Like those sharks and minnows, it swam beneath the surface, visible only at particular points. While he didn’t panic after seeing it, as he might have had it been a shark fin, it certainly perplexed him.

Avril seemed nervous, which was already rather uncharacteristic of her. That wasn’t quite the emotion he expected from someone who was, in detail, explaining how exorbitantly rich she was. Especially with that person being Avril.

“Alright,” he said, nodding. “I think I get all that. Is there… anything else?” He wasn’t sure how to broach what he knew he’d seen, so he figured that a simple question was the best way to allow Avril a chance to keep going—to explain what was unsettling her.

“Yeah, there is,” Avril said. She sucked one cheek in, glancing around. It was just them. They hadn’t made it that far into the stadium’s guts, just to the inner ring, which in four days would be swarming with people using the restrooms, buying things from the concessions, or seeking their seats. “My grandfather’s a billionaire. Ostensibly, so am I.”

“Sure,” he said.

“And you know that now.”

“…Yeah.”

“But you’re not going to start acting any differently around me, right? Weird, different, whatever. Got it?”

Liam borrowed a few moments of silence by scratching the back of his head. “I… wasn’t planning to. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Fuck. No.” Avril released a long sigh. “Seriously, Liam. Same old deal between us. Nothing’s changing, right?”

“Is this that big of a worry?” he asked, earnest but slightly perplexed.

“It is,” Avril confirmed. “People getweirdwhen they realize they’re talking with a billionaire, and it can go either way. They can turn into total grifters, or they can turn up all tight and puckered all of a sudden, as if they’re afraid I’ll snap my fingers and get them tossed under a guillotine. It’s happened before.”

Liam took a moment to compile his thoughts. His response felt natural and honest.

“I already knew you were super rich—you’ve proven that over and over, honestly. I’ve got a watch in a glass case that proves that. Like you said, I’m not from one of those millionaire families. The difference between a family with hundreds of millions and a few billion—that’s not something I can fully appreciate. I can tell you honestly, I’ve never been onanyone’sprivate jet before.”

Avril snorted but seemed to cheer up a little. “Mine’s going to ruin all others for you. Kind of like how my tight pussy ruined—”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, cutting her off with a gesture. “You’re definitely still the same Avril Knight I know.”

She grinned. “The one and only, baby. Don’t ever forget it, either.”

Liam promised he wouldn’t. “Oh, and I have money to repay you for the flight too, if youreallywant me to keep treatingyou theexactsame. Afraid it’s based on what I figured a normal flight would cost me, not one on your super jet.”

Snorting again, Avril shoved away from the wall she’d been leaning on. “You can keep hold of whatever you’ve got. It’s basically spending change to a Knight.” Her eyes glinted as she started walking. “Buy me something nice when we’re on the islands. But for now, come on. You’re going to fuck me in a private viewing box.”

Liam’s jaw might have dropped again, but his feet didn’t hesitate. Not this time.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Accomplishment

As far as Liam could tell, they took the long route. Rather than staying in the stadium’s bowels, she led him forward as if they were planning to sit near the railing behind the home team’s dugout. For a little while, they walked in the shade. But then they emerged into the sunlight, stepping back into the bright light of a warm afternoon. Liam knew that everyone, from Avril to the groundskeepers he could see working on the field, hoped the weather would stay like this for the next four days.

Avril stopped by the railing and breathed in the clean air, the freshly cut grass. She observed the groundskeepers as they worked; one was checking the grass in rightfield, another was examining the pitching mound. Avril smiled as she looked overthe stadium, face flush with excitement. It was obvious how much this place meant to her. Pride shimmered in the stare she cast across the field.

Regardless of his seemingly endless ignorance, hehadbeen to a few games before. Yeah, he’d been much younger, but he had sat in the seats arrayed out in force behind them, watched pitcher and batter duel for victory, and saw the Bandits both win and lose.

That probably meant that he and Avril had been in this stadium at the same time. But he’d been among the regular seats, while she’d probably been inside the owner’s private box. The thought hung onto him, and he envisioned himself watching the game with his parents, hotdog and drink in hand. Meanwhile, Avril, a few years older than him, was kicking her legs in a cushioned seat far above him, far more invested in who won or lost than he’d ever have been.

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