Page 10 of The Billionaire Player

“Get out. Before I throw you out,” JD said, not turning around.

“I don’t give up that easily. You will talk to me,” I said.

“Maybe, but not tonight. Get out,” he repeated.

It wasn’t an agreement but it was a small victory and I would take it. With a slight nod that JD didn’t see, I quietly left the restaurant but my mind stayed on him and what I had gotten myself into long after I had left.

Chapter 5

JD

“The final menu should be ready for you in just a few minutes,” I said to Rosie as I walked by her.

“No problem,” she replied.

It was two weeks before the opening and things were chaotic. The staff was still learning the menu, the flow of the restaurant, and each other. There was a slight mix up with the cleaning of the tablecloths and their delivery was delayed and it had taken some quick talking to get them to arrive on time. Phil, the executive chef, decided at the last minute that he wanted to change one of the main dishes which caused a need to reprint the entire menu for the dry run. To top it off, one of the waiters called out sick, causing a change in the table assignments for the day.

There were going to be some hiccups. There were going to be some issues that arose that no one was expecting. It was part of the fun and the craziness that came with running a restaurant. It was nerve racking, frustrating, and I had questioned my own sanity numerous times in the last few days. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

I loved that there were problems that needed to be solved. There was a constant barrage of people who wanted my attention and advice. The minute one crisis was taken care of, two more seemed to crop up in its place. I could see my vision, my dream, becoming a reality. I watched in awe as my staff, my employees, worked to get the restaurant that I had thought about since I was a child come alive right before my eyes.

We were going to have a few people come in for lunch for the next few days, giving my staff a chance to work through some of the kinks they might have before we officially opened in two weeks. I wanted to see how the kitchen was running and where we needed to make some changes and see how the staff worked with each other in a semi-stressful situation before it was real.

Everyone seemed excited, even energized. Which was a blessing and I only hoped that it continued as the days turned into weeks and months. There was a definite buzz about the restaurant and I wanted to capitalize on it. I knew that people were going to come to my restaurant to see if it would fail, and I was more than ready to prove them wrong.

It helped that I was trending on social media, though part of the reason was because Lizbeth was posting about me and my restaurant. While I knew that any publicity could only help me, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to be indebted to her.

Lizbeth and I had met while we were in college at a club one night. She was everything that I was looking for in a woman, at that time. Good looking, rich, into the social and party scene, and not looking for anything serious. We had hung out together, slept together, and been seen together. We were the “It” couple of the year. We both fed off the glamor and the attention. We were having fun and there didn’t seem to be any interest in either of us wanting to take it any farther than that.

As it did with me and most women, eventually, things started to wane between us. When I found out she was dating another man, I really didn’t care. I took it that our relationship had run its course and it was time for us to move on. I was thinking of working on getting my sommelier license and knew I wasn’t going to have time to devote to a woman, especially one like Lizbeth, who had been slowly asking for more and more of my attention. I felt as if it was the perfect break for us and for my life.

When a family emergency came up and I needed to get my sister out of town, I didn’t hesitate, nor did I think that I needed to tell Lizbeth that we were through. Apparently, I was the only one who thought so. She had been livid and had taken out her anger on me, mainly on social media, even though I was an ocean away.

She needed to look like the jilted lover. She needed to have everyone be on her side and feel sorry for her. I hadn’t cared, and let her win the sympathy of her followers; I had other more pressing concerns in my life. I hadn’t even thought about her while I was away, but she had thought about me and immediately hit me up when I got back.

At first, I was flattered and thought it might be fun to hook up again. I told her I wasn’t looking for anything serious and she had said the same. It had been exciting to get back into the social scene, to see the friends and go to the clubs that I had missed, but I wasn’t as into it as I had been. I could see that while I had changed, Lizbeth had not. As I got more involved with my restaurant, I had less time for her and called it quits.

Too bad she didn’t agree with me. I couldn’t understand her fixation on me and it was borderline obsessive. It had gotten so bad, Mac had stepped in and offered to take some of the attention off of me. It had resulted in him finally being with the woman that he loved so I wasn’t sure how much of a sacrifice it was.

Since then, I ignored Lizabeth’s calls, texts, and messages on social media. I had hoped she would have gotten the hint that I was done with her, too bad that wasn’t the case. Lizbeth was a problem I didn’t want to deal with which was why I had given Rosie the responsibility. So far, she seemed to be handling it well as I hadn’t heard anything from her.

I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the menu in front of me when Rosie walked up to me with a look that told me there was a problem and that it needed to be dealt with immediately. I looked quickly around the restaurant trying to see what more could be going on.

“What is it now?” I asked.

“It’s Lizbeth,” she said.

“Don’t tell me she’s here,” I said and looked around half expecting to find her.

“No. She posted on social media that she’s going to be your date for the opening night ofBennett’s.” She whispered when she spoke and looked around us as if she was worried someone would overhear her.

“Why the hell would she think something like that?”

“I have no idea. It’s starting to trend, as is the restaurant again. So, yeah, us,” Rosie said, putting a happy yet sarcastic tone in her voice as she waved her hands around.

“Can you come up with some response that tells her that isn’t going to happen without somehow offending her or any of her million or so followers? I can’t nor do I want to deal with her shit right now.”

“If only it were that simple. I was told to warn you that Mac was coming over later to talk about it,” Rosie said.

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