A Year With The Billionaire - Chapter 83: Chapter 83

Maeve’s POV
I am having the time of my life after weeks of having myself locked up in my Grandma’s bedroom and forcing her to sleep on the same bed with her maid and friend, Safina.
Flair exudes happiness. She is free-spirited and I am more than sure that she is the type of friend that I need.
I swing my hips to the loud music, laughing to myself as Lori comes behind me, grabbing my waist and grinding it on her front.
Flair’s laughter fills my ears and all of a sudden, I love her. I love her for doing this. I love her for bringing me here. I love her for coming to check up on me.
She saw how miserable I looked last night when she came. I guess Burton didn’t tell her about what happened between Xander and me on time or maybe Xander didn’t tell Burton on time.
His ego will ruin him someday.
Flair promised to come to get me so we could go out tonight and I have been anticipating the outing since she left last night.
Like magic, I felt happier. I was able to take my mind off Xander’s thoughts for once in two weeks and I began to think of how much fun it would be with the girls. Flair isn’t taking any alcohol because of her pregnancy and I decide to do the same, even though I am tempted I get drunk and forget my sorrows for the night.
But what use will that be? If I get drunk tonight, I will wake up feeling terrible tomorrow and the reason for getting drunk will settle heavily on me. I will go back to thinking about him.
But without getting drunk, I am happy. Thinking about him right now is a choice.
“You bad bitch, I never knew you could be wild”, Lori spanks my butt and I hit her shoulder, laughing and spinning like a drunk girl.
“Girls, should I join you?” Flair shouts from where she is sitting. Quickly, I nod and beckon to her to come closer.
She approaches with a smile and we begin to dance; all three of us.
This is the same party I accompanied them to the other day I visited Flair in the house to realize that they were going out. I wasn’t this free the other day because other girls wouldn’t stop questioning Lori and Flair about who I was. I was introduced as Xander’s wife but they didn’t gush around me like I feared they would if they knew I was the youngest billionaire’s wife.
I guess it was because Flair is also married to a billionaire and it wasn’t something special. Lori was also dating a billionaire and some of the girls too.
It was a normal thing for them. They had nothing to gush about. Being married to Xander is nothing to gush about but I was respected.
Tonight, it is just Flair, Lori, and me, and I am comfortable with them. I am much more comfortable with Flair, probably because Lori could have been in my shoes if she had accepted to be in a marriage with no strings attached as I did.
I haven’t told any of the girls what happened between Xander and me and I am glad they aren’t questioning me about it.
Flair might know. Burton might have told her but she isn’t acting as if she knows.
What baffles me is how they are not looking curious about meeting me at my Grandma’s place instead of Xander’s
It is so obvious to the eyes that Xander and I are not on good terms but they are not saying or doing anything to know what actually transpired between us.
When we were coming to the party, Flair said something about a baby shower and I’m sure she is going to organize one pretty soon for the baby.
We laugh at each other as we dance. Lori is the craziest. She funnily shakes her butts, sending Flair and me reeling in laughter.
When we are sober, Flair stops dancing and stands with arms akimbo. “I’m tired.”
“Is it the baby?” I demand with worry as I stop dancing to touch her.
She rolls her eyes at me and smiles. “No, silly. I get tired easily these days. I should go back to sit. You two should enjoy.”
I nod at her and watch her walk away. Just before she gets seated, Lori grabs my hand so we could dance together but suddenly, another hand grabs my other hand.
It pulls at me with great force and I find myself leaving Lori’s hand and hitting my head on something hard.
Like a wall.
Did I just run into a wall?
When I open my eyes, feeling the impact of the hit on my forehead which sends a sudden headache to my entire head, my nose catches something familiar.
A cologne.
His cologne.
Quickly, I hoist my head up to meet his blue crystal clear eyes, his right hand on my waist and his other hand still holding onto the hand he used to pull me away from Lori.
We stand watching each other as the music changes into a slower one. I want to pinch myself to know if this is real and not one of my imaginations of seeing Xander touching or holding me.
I can’t pinch myself. My hands are caged. My right hand is entwined with his while the other hand grabs his clothing which I did out of fright when I felt the sudden pull.
If I drop my hands to pinch myself, he might disappear and this dream will end. So I decide to just continue watching him. Continue dreaming.
I am not drunk, am I? Why do I feel drunk, then?
I shouldn’t be having a dream like this in the middle of a club. Maybe this guy just looks like Xander.
It isn’t Xander.
Suddenly, he drops his hand away from me and I blink severally to wipe out the image of him standing right in front of me, all to no avail.
He is still standing dangerously and gorgeously handsome in front of me. He is wearing a white t-shirt that is transparent enough to showcase his biceps which I had my hands running on when we had sex in Verona.
I blink again.
He is still here.
I am about to say something when he grabs my hand again but this time, he begins to walk away toward the exit.
Then it clicks.
Lori. Where is Lori?
This is real. Xander is really here and he is the one dragging me with him out of the club and not some dude who looks like him.
This is Xander.
Where is Lori? Where is Flair? Has he gotten rid of them?
The evening air hits my face. Thankfully, my hair is packed in a ponytail. All the jumping I have been doing would have had my hair disheveled and this breeze too.
Hurriedly, I jerk my hand free from his hold and he turns to me.
“How dare you come to drag me out of where I was having fun with my friends? Who do you think you are?”
We can’t continue playing dumb. If he is dumb, then I am not.
I won’t let him come from anywhere to have my fun ruined. I have been doing so well without him so he shouldn’t think that having him around and seeing him for the first time in two weeks will have been gushing all over him like bees.
“Let’s go”, he only says and I laugh maniacally.
Now I am more than sure that I had taken a sip of the alcohol Lori ordered for herself.
“Let’s go? To where? Home?” He sighs deeply and looks away, a pleat of his hair falling off his face.
I gulp and look away, my confidence dissolving into thin air. I am tempted to help him tuck his hair.
“I am going back inside”, I remark and turn but he is quick to block my way.
“No!” He suddenly looks desperate.
“No? Why are you even here? Are you here to remind me of how cheap of a girl I was to have opened my legs wide for you to….” I trail off, adrenaline shooting up my spine as I fume silently.
“No, Maeve. I’m here so we can talk”, he mutters calmly, the desperation in his eyes gone, replaced with sad eyes.
He doesn’t look good. He looks like he hasn’t been sleeping for days.
Well, I haven’t either.
“I am not interested in talking to you, Xander. We are done, remember?”
“No, we are not. We have a few months until the end of our contract so we are still bonded together legally.”
I guess that came out before he could realize it.
So this is it.
It isn’t an apology. It is a reminder of what I have to do if I don’t want to get sued for going against our contract.
Well, he went against the contract too by having sex with me and I won’t let him intimidate me with his words.
“Bullshit!” I spit in his face and twirl around abruptly, determined to leave no matter what he says or how long he is going to block my way.
I am done with him. I should have known Xander would never want us to be real. He is obsessed with the past. He is obsessed with the contract.
I am foolish to even expect something else from him. I am foolish for still loving the idiot despite everything.
I almost bump into him again when he blocks my way.
“Maeve…”
I don’t wait for him to say whatever he wants to say before raising my hand in the air to strike him across his face.
My hand sting from the slap and I can’t believe I actually slapped him.
His hand flies to his face and his eyes widen in shock.
“Don’t you dare show your face to me ever again!” I wag a warning finger at him, hoping it will help in pushing him away.
Seeing him confuses the shit out of me. But today, I am so sure that waiting for him is no good.
His behavior tonight has just proven that he is not the man for me. We can’t be together.
And I am done.
I am done hoping, wishing, craving, and praying for some sort of miracle. I am done being the victim.
He is speechless so I take my eyes off him and take a step away from him to go back to the club and find Flair and Lori when a sudden wave of dizziness sweeps through me.
I stagger backward.
I open my eyes to see Xander watching me. I turn away from him and take a step when it hits me again, everywhere suddenly becoming blank.
I stumble backward and I find myself falling to the ground.
All I can see is Xander’s hand trying to catch hold of me but he can’t hold onto me until I am on the floor with darkness invading.