Page 32 of His to Cherish
It doesn’t matter what would have happened if you weren’t into the Club Wyld stuff,I try to tell myself. Because Iaminto it.
Right?
But what if I’m blinded by my feelings for Ollie? I cast a glance at Jenni. She’s trying to convince herself that she’s totally willing to spend half her nights at a stinky bowling alley for a guy. Am I really any different? I’ve never explored any of the dominant stuff—and certainly not the Daddy thing—with any other guy. Does that mean it’s not a natural inclination? What if I only like it because it’s Ollie and, just like Jenni, I’d be willing to change myself for the guy I’m crazy about?
The real scary thought, though, is the fact that I’m pretty sure Oliver would not stay with me if I wasn’t willing to lay over his lap.
I’m not sure what, exactly, that says about us. But I know I leave that restaurant feeling far worse than I did when I entered.
The sick feelingin my stomach only gets worse when we get back to the office. The three of us go to stash our leftovers in the break room and find it full. Not at all unusual for the middle of the day. What is unusual is the fact that everyone is gathered around someone’s laptop, and they’re all wearing expressions of delighted shock.
“You would never know it by looking at him,” creepy Jeff says, smirking.
“He seems so clean cut,” agrees a guy from accounting who I don’t know well.
“Yeah, right,” Kelly, the receptionist, says, rolling her eyes. “The man is a billionaire. Everyone knows rich people are totally perverted, right? You don’t get money like that without being a little freaky.”
Everyone laughs. “All I’m saying is the man is fine,” a girl named Justine says. “Fine and rich. I’ll call him Daddy if he wants.”
A buzzing fills my ears, blocking out the laughs and crude comments. Trisha and Jenni move around the table to see what they’re all looking at on the laptop screen, but I remain frozen by the door.
The man is fine. Rich. Call him Daddy.
I think I’m going to throw up.
“Oh my God, Lilly!” Jenni’s squeal breaks through the buzz in my ears. She flaps her hands at me, eyes wide. “It’s Oliver! Come and look at this!”
“Holy shit,” Justine gasps, staring at me. “I totally forgot that you know him.”
“Youknowhim?” Kelly asks. “You know Oliver York?”
I feel sick to my stomach as I move around the table to join Trish and Jenni behind the group. Everyone is talking about me now and I can only pick out snippets through the turmoil in my head.
“No, I heard they’re like,bestfriends. He used to work here!”
“Hang out all the time.”
“…the one who’s always sending her lunch.”
“Did you know your buddy was a secret sex fiend?”
“…wonder if he’s ever brought her to his dungeon.”
And there he is on the screen. Some celebrity gossip site has a huge picture of Oliver, dressed all in black, with the headline, “Tech Billionaire’s Secret BDSM Life.” My knees go weak as I take in the subheading. “New girlfriend details all in shocking exclusive.”
I nearly lose my lunch all over my co-workers. They’re all looking at me with undisguised glee—especially Jeff, whose leer is taking creepy to the next level. He’s obviously feeling vindicated after Ollie threatened him.
This is prime gossip. As a young, attractive tech billionaire, Oliver gets a fair amount of national press attention, and even more around here. And there’s nothing the masses enjoy more than a good celebrity sex scandal. Never mind that Oliver is an actual person, with feelings and friends and a life. All they see is someone with unbelievable privilege being knocked off his pedestal. A rich guy getting what’s coming to him.
“I wonder who this new girlfriend is,” Justine says, scrolling down further in the article. “She isn’t named.”
“Bet she totally cashed in on this,” Kelly adds. “A national publication like this probably pays huge for this kind of detail.” She lets out a shrill laugh. “I mean, he makes her call himDaddy. That is so messed up.”
“Oh, come on,” Jeff says, leering at her. “I bet you wouldn’t mind calling me Daddy.”
There’s a tumult of groans but I barely hear it.His new girlfriend. Totally cashed in.
Oh my God. What if Oliver thinks it’s me? He wouldn’t, right? Heknowsme. But…
