Billionaires Meet Millionaire (A Steamy Romance) (19 page)

Niall
got out of his car slowly. It would a good time for his
meds to start kicking in.

"We
couldn't agree on a movie." Niall said without preamble. Bailey
looked skeptic.

"Sure."
Bailey's tone amplified his incredulity tenfold. Niall knew the
excuse sounded lame but as long as they just went with it, all
would be well.

"So
where is the movie, sorry, Olta then?" Niall winced at the words.
Why was everybody being so fucking difficult about it? And why did
the guy have to choose today off all days to be astute?

"She
walked." Niall snapped. The throbbing pain was incessant, his plan
had been foiled, Bailey wasn't cutting him any slack and he hadn't
even seen Olta or Daniel yet. Today was going to be a bad
day.

Perhaps he
should have taken the good doctors advice and never gotten out of
bed.

"And she
wasn't supposed to do that, I take it?" Bailey asked lightly. Niall
groaned inwardly.

"I
kissed her." Again Niall groaned. Now his mouth was committing
treason.

Bailey
stopped dead in his tracks. Niall walked on, trying to
pretend he hadn't said anything.

"Oh no,
you don't. You're going to spill." Bailey smirked, holding out his
arm to prevent Niall from walking along.

Niall
looked at his friend wearily. He really didn't want to
discuss this or anything else right now. Had he mentioned the fact
that this was a very bad day?

"Ry, I'm
in no mood to discuss my pathetic attempts at getting a girl." As
briskly as possible Niall moved around Bailey's arm and continued
on his way inside. After a few steps Niall turned around. Bailey
hadn't yet moved.

"Look, Ry,
sorry. But really, not now, okay." He gives his friend a wry
smile.

The
sympathetic nod Bailey gave him were enough to take the edge of his
foul mood. Silently they made their way inside.

Niall
hadn't missed the looks he was getting. In his bathroom
mirror he had seen just how bad the bruises on his face still were.
Hell, they were still there, so they were bad. Before lunch
everybody in school would have a theory on how he had gotten them.
Throw Olta and the state of Daniel's face into the mix and all the
gossipers were bound to have a field day. He wondered how many
theories would be close to hitting the nail on its head. Quite a
few, probably.

"So,
Peter and Alice skipping first period again?" Niall smirked as he
got his things out of his locker. Bailey shrugged but matched his
smirk. Right then a girl, who Niall recognized vaguely, walked by
and obviously caught Bailey's eye. She smiled shyly at him and
Niall noticed Bailey's smirk turning into a shy smile as well. Shy
and Bailey weren't usually things that went together. Niall leant
into Bailey.

"It seems that
I'm not the only one who needs to spill." He said with a knowing
smirk of his own.

Bailey
looked at Niall like he did when he accidentally broken
Niall's favourite Action Man some years ago. It only served to
improve his already rapidly mellowing mood. His meds were kicking
in, no doubt about that. Now if only Olta would turn up at her
locker and life would just be dandy.

"It's
nothing." Niall heard Bailey mutter and now it was Niall' turn to
look skeptic.

Just
then the bell rang. Niall patted Bailey's shoulder.

"Sure.Whatever you say,man." And with that Niall took off
for Took, unfortunately without Olta by his side.

As Niall
entered Took's classroom he spotted Olta immediately as she was
chatting amiably with Josie and Alice. It was an odd
sight.

At
seeing Niall enter the classroom both Olta and Alice looked up at
him but they're faces darkened immediately as their gaze moved to
something behind him.

Niall
was knocked forward. Daniel.

"Oh, hey
bro, didn't see you there, sorry." Even if Daniel had actually
managed to sound apologetic Niall wouldn't have cared. As he
righted himself he caught his brother's eye and was shocked by what
he saw. Outside of their private encounters, Daniel had never
before looked at him with such blatant hatred . But at least his
face was bruised too. As Daniel walked over to his seat, he looked
from Niall to an unaware Olta and back at Niall again. Niall felt
the hairs in the back rise at the small twisted smirk Daniel gave
him. Well, let the games begin.

Niall
gave Olta a small smile as he made his way to his usual
table. Just as he was about to his books on the table Alice slipped
into the seat.

"I think
you should take my seat. Too much light isn't good for eye, slows
the healing process." Alice said in her mothering voice but a wink
contradicted it. Niall looked at her confused until he realized
that it would mean he'd be sitting behind Olta instead of next to
her.

"Why, I
didn't know you cared." He purred with a smile. Alice swatted his
arm lightly.

Niall
turned and took his seat behind Olta. She seemed to have
forgotten all about his presence as she was scribbling something on
a piece of paper. Niall followed her movements as Olta took the
note and leant over to Josie.The girl accepted the note with a
grateful smile.

Then
Olta turned around in her seat and cocked her head at him
thoughtfully. Niall only smiled while he regarded her face. A
strand of hair which had fallen forward was particularly
entrancing.

"How are
you?" Olta asked. Her voice was laced with concern but there was
something else too.

"I'm
okay." Olta smiled at his answer.

"Good. I
thought you might have had a bad night's sleep." Now there wasn't
any concern in her voice. Niall saw a twinkle her eye. She was
teasing him. He wondered just where she was going with
this.

"No, I
slept very well. Very pleasant dreams, it was a pity to have to
wake up, really." Niall said as he took and twirled the loose
strand between his fingers. Olta started to blush but thankfully
she didn't pull away.

"Yeah, I slept
very well too." She said with a coy smile and her blush
deepened.

"Until some
git thought it funny to send me a wake-up message, that is."

Niall
looked up from his fingers and into Olta's eyes. He
couldn't help but notice how green they were today.A slight blush
creep up. Niall was about to say something bordering an apology but
was cut off by their teacher.

"Miss
Mehmeti and mister NiallFoy, if you two could disentangle
yourselves from each other. I really would like start right
now."

Olta
spun around in her chair and Niall knew she was thoroughly
embarrassed right now. Niall wasn't exactly embarrassed, he felt
more proud, relieved and downright giddy. But that was due to the
drugs. Niall didn't do giddy.

He leant back
in his seat and couldn't help but grin widely at the girl in front
of him.

Today was
going to be a very good day.

C
hapter Sixteen

Niall
took a deep breath.

"Once upon a
time there was this only son of a very wealthy and important member
of society. This man lived in New York and worked for one of the
family businesses. Life was good . Then one day he met this girl in
the park. It was love at first sight and for a while they were
blissfully happy. Life was wonderful. But the love they shared
wasn't enough. They were from different worlds. When their families
found out, they were forced to break it off. Or rather the girl was
shipped of to Europe and disappeared for quite some time. The man
was left behind, heartbroken and feeling betrayed. He thought that
she hadn't cared enough to stay and fight for what they had."

Niall
paused for a moment wondering whether this had been good
idea. He hadn't thought that telling everything would prove to be
so difficult. Even in this overly detached manner it still proved
hard. A small squeeze in his elbow, however, reassured him to
continue.

"Meanwhile the man's father was getting anxious. He wasn't
getting any younger and the mansion in which he lived was starting
to feel like a mausoleum for the living. So he introduced his son
to the daughter of an equally wealthy and important family.
Actually they already knew each other. She was a friend of both him
and the girl. The man and the woman cared for each other very
deeply.The man figured he had lost the one love of his life and the
woman admitted that she might be in love with the man. So out of
familial duty and hope they decided to get married. The man's
father was overjoyed and had them move into the mansion. He hoped
that the mansion would come alive with sound of children soon
enough. And indeed, after only a few short months of marriage the
woman found herself pregnant. Again life was good. Then, one day,
the man ran into the girl who had broken his heart. She had been
well and was now engaged. But there were a lot of things unsaid
between them and the two ex-lovers engaged in a one-day affair to
put the past behind them. The man confessed everything to his wife
as he came home and promised her that it would be a one time deal.
She forgave him and called their meeting serendipity. The wife then
knew for sure that her husband did love her but would always be in
love with the girl."

Again
Niall paused. His voice had started to falter.

"Two months
later, however, the girl showed up at the mansion, distraught. The
wife was home alone. The attempt to put the past behind them had
backfired severely. The girl had ended up pregnant. She knew for a
fact that her old lover was the father for she hadn't seen her
fiancé in months. When her family had discovered they had cast her
out, saying she was a disgrace to the family. The girl swore to the
wife that she hadn't meant for any of it to happen and that she had
come to them as a last resort. The wife assured the girl that
things would work out just fine. She called it serendipity. The
wife brought the girl to a hotel and set about to deal with this
situation. They were both pregnant by the same man and now the girl
had nowhere to turn to. According to the wife the solution was very
simple, if a little problematic. The girl would just have to move
in with them. The only true problem was that her father-in-law
would probably never agree to such an arrangement. Surprisingly
enough, it only took her husband and herself two weeks before the
man begrudgingly agreed. The wife had been happy with the girl in
the house. The three of them had been friends before and they
managed to be friends again. The grandfather to be, however, called
the whole deal an abomination and withdrew himself in a secluded
part of the mansion. Four months later the wife gave birth to a
healthy baby boy. Soon after complications arose with the girl's
pregnancy and on New Years Eve she had to be rushed to the
hospital. The doctors managed to deliver the baby safely but the
girl never made it."

By now
Niall was a little hoarse. He looked down at Olta.

Sometime
during his monologue she had turned around. Both her arms squashed
between his side and her chest. She had teary eyes but the look she
gave him was soothing and consoling. It didn't surprise him. Olta
had this way of calming him. That was if she wasn't making him feel
like an incompetent nervous idiot.

For a
moment he wondered if his mother had had such an effect on his
father. What exactly had been the difference between his father's
feelings for his mother and Victoria? Their marriage had been a
truly good one. Niall didn't think he was looking back on his
childhood through rose coloured glasses. There was little cause for
it.

Suddenly
Olta's eyes were so close that he could see the blue rim around her
irises. To his amazement Niall felt her kiss him lightly on the
lips while keeping her eyes locked on his. Stunned, Niall didn't
react. And almost too late he noticed the glimpse of dejection in
her eyes as she moved back to lie down him.

Before
Olta could reposition herself, Niall flipped them over. Pain washed
through his body at this sudden movement but he ignored it.
Planting his hands on either side of her upper body and hovering
above it Niall looked down.

Olta
looked slightly shocked but it was mingled with sadness and
his favourite mixture of knowledge and insecurity. And of course
she was blushing. Niall couldn't suppress a stupid grin from
breaking through. This was his girl, his Tirana, his
Olta.

So what if he
was getting a little territorial.