Page 6 of Interning For A Billionaire

Real life was full of bastards and idiots who would run you over in the street with a smile if it could get them home faster after work. People who parked in disabled parking bays, so they didn’t have to walk a few extra steps with their grocery bags.

And bastards like me, who’d been head boy at school, top of the class and extremely competitive. I was used to winning and to getting what I want. I wasn’t about to let some girl get away with flashing pictures of her tits to her boss.

Seriously, who did this girl think she was?

I had to cut her down to size.

I just had to.

Chapter 3

Belle

Nothing is going according to plan.

My dream job has turned into a nightmare, my accommodation situation is impossible, I’m running out of money and I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve maybe made a mistake coming here.

None of which, of course, I tell anyone about.

When my Aunt Kate calls at the end of the first week, wanting to hear all the news, I tell her about the wonderful restaurants I’ve been to and how we’ve been going for drinks every day after work.

None of which is true.

“I’m so happy for you, honey,” she says. I feel my heart ache with homesickness. I imagine her and my father in their house in Nolan, having chicken pie for supper. My stomach growls at the memory and I try not to think of how I haven’t had a proper meal in days.

“How is Dad?” I ask.

“Oh, you know, working hard. Mr. Shuttleworth came to see him about his allergies again. He had a terrible flare-up and could barely breathe!”

“No way!” I say and laugh. “He still hasn’t told his wife he is allergic to cats?”

“No!” My aunt laughs too. “He says he can’t bear to disappoint her. He says the cat has been with her all her life, and they only just got married.”

“He’d rather struggle with his breathing than hurt her feelings?”

“Apparently so.”

This was the kind of love a girl could only dream of, I thought.

“Your father wanted me to ask about the apartment. Is it in a good area?”

“Oh, yes!” I lie quickly. “It’s kind of small, but I’m very close to the bus stop.”

The truth is that the place is very far from the nearest bus stop, and I spend an hour every day walking home because I want to save money. It was also only a room in an apartment, so I don’t have the whole place to myself. I found the room online and paid one month deposit in advance. But when I arrived at the apartment straight from the airport, clutching my bag and still reeling from the cost of the taxi, I found my roommate had no idea I was coming.

“Who are you?” she asked, unwilling to let me in.

“I’m your new roommate,” I said with my friendliest smile.

“What?” she scowled at me.

“Greg put an ad online? Said he had a furnished room for rent? I paid in advance?”

“Greg has moved out?” the girl said, stunned.

It turned out that she knew nothing of the arrangement. Greg turned out to be her on-off boyfriend, Greg. She thought he was away visiting friends. He’d told her nothing about moving out.

“Well, I guess this room is yours then!” she snapped at me, opening the door to what used to be Greg’s room, and was now supposed to be mine. A terrible smell hit me in the face. The bed was unmade, and the sheets looked like they’d never been washed. The small desk was covered in old pizza take-out boxes, dirty plates and empty beer bottles. There was no way I could sleep here, I thought, disgusted.

---