Page 18 of Dr. Billionaire
There was a long pause before Chloe started singing. “Did you ever know that you’re my hero…”
“Oh my god,” Jenna rolled her eyes dramatically even though no one could see.
“You’re everything I wish I could beeee…” she continued with horrible pitch.
“Okay, stop!” Jenna spoke over her.
Chloe giggled. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. But, honestly, this kind of sounds like every girl’s dream, Jenna.”
“Not this girl!” Jenna insisted.
“Right, okay.” Chloe’s deep sigh was audible. “So what are you going to do then? Ghost him again?”
“No, that’s what Old Jenna would do,” Jenna said in a scheming tone, chucking the abused sponge in the sink before straightening up thoughtfully. “New Better Jenna would tell him where to shove it before she goes and finds a kickass job.”
“Wow, your parents’ separation really fucked you up, didn’t it,” Chloe said. “I know you want to make them proud and prove you can be a big girl and do it all on your own, Jen, but you don’t have to do it without any help.”
“Old Jenna would hang up on you for assuming such things, but New Better Jenna is just going to say that she’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Chloe sighed. “Talk to you tomorrow, psycho.”
“Bye!” Jenna chirped cheerily before hanging up.
Taking a generous sip from her nearby glass of Riesling, she pulled out her phone and began furiously typing out a message to Mark.
She knew his cock-sucking comment had been tongue-in-cheek, but she was also certain that part of him must actually think of her in that way. How could he not? The two times they’d actually spent time together had ended in something sexual, and the first time had also ended in him paying her, supposedly for said sexual acts.
The fact that he obviously saw her that way—as a whore to be used and then most likely discarded for a newer, younger model—enraged her.
Jenna wasn’t payingcloseattention to what she wrote, but it definitely included some harsh language and her strongly worded opinion of him at that moment.
She hitsendbefore she could talk herself out of it.
Then she stared hard at the screen for a good minute or so, as if daring him to respond so she could jump on him with a snappy retort. When he didn’t, she threw her phone on the couch and went to get ready for bed.
The next morning, Jenna didn’t feel any better. She didn’t feel empowered or super motivated to begin her job search. She just felt a bit hungover. Dragging herself over to the couch, she picked up her phone. No messages, and the battery was almost dead. Great.
Opening her messaging app, she reread the message she’d sent to Mark. It was pretty mean, she had to admit. She probably should have waited until she’d slept off the Reisling beforewriting that out… Even worse, underneath the message was the tiny, damning word, “Read.”
He’d read it and hadn’t responded? That wasn’t good. Either it had made him so mad he needed time to calm down before responding, or he’d already decided she wasn’t worth the trouble.
Or maybe he’d decided she’d crossed the line and was currently using his mysterious billionaire connections to teach her a lesson. Maybe he’d put her name on some blacklist so she could never get another job, or never travel again through domestic airports. Did he know people in the TSA…?
No, this was stupid. He didn’t have that kind of free time.
Jenna walked into her bathroom, turning on the sink and brushing her teeth thoughtfully.
She found herself blushing as she recalled the first time Mark “taught her a lesson” over his knee in his creepy-yet-somehow-still-hot-if-she-was-honest-with-herself medical room.
Ugh. She had to get out and clear her head. Getting dressed could wait.
Grabbing her purse and coat, she slid on a pair of sandals and locked the door behind her, still wearing pajama pants and a tank top. There was a coffee shop four blocks down on Broadway that had a drive-through, and a white mocha would do wonders for her mood right about now.
She got into her car, plugged her phone into the car charger, and pulled out of her parking spot onto the street. She had slept in enough that traffic was light, so she called Chloe.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Chloe answered, her voice sounding distant, and Jenna had to turn up the volume to hear her.
“Where are you? Am I on speaker?” Jenna asked.
