Chapter 12

Stephen made sure I suffered a great loss that night. He was all over me like a clingy boyfriend, who the hell does that? When I asked him what his deal was, he said he didn't want to wander about in the club alone, he didn't know anyone, and he didn't feel like socializing. Pretty dumb if you ask me, but I did invite him to the club, so I was kinda responsible for him.

The best part about clubbing with Stephen that night was that he paid for the time I spent with him. Stephen knew I was at the club to work, and since I couldn't work because of him, he paid me. Having a rich friend is top tier, I'd recommend it to everyone.

Stephen could pay for all my expenses, no matter what they were or how much they cost all on his own without complaining; and that was how it was years ago. I liked taking his money, but when he got Emilia, I knew I had to have a little conscience. Stephen had a relationship to attend to, and I felt like I couldn't keep distracting him, so I had to stop. But things are different now, I could take his money for all I cared. I am too mature in the act of taking money from men to refuse free money, Money that I didn't put any effort into getting, plus who is Emilia again?

"So, who's your new catch?" Stephen had asked me. My response was not verbal; I rolled my eyes at him. By then, Stephen and I were back from the club, and we were tipsy, talking in my living room at 4 a.m.

"I don't have to tell you that," I ended up saying.

"I know, I know, but I want to know, I want to know what is going on in your life, and who's responsible for you these days," Stephen smiled.

"Ew, I'm responsible for myself, and I’ll always be responsible for myself, but there's this guy—"

"Tell me you're in love with him," Stephen sounded excited.

"I'm not. Anyway, I'm not going to say who he is or what he does, but he's very rich. I think he's richer than you are," I smirked.

"I don't believe you. I don't think there's an old man as rich as me, talk more or richer than me in this city," Stephen bragged.

"I never said he was an old man,"

"Hmm. So, you're still taking money without feelings?"

"I really don't know why you're asking me that. I told you years ago, Stephen, the love thing is not for me, I'm not like the preppy nice girls that y'all fall for. I'm the girl that pretends to be in love with people to take their money, and I don't think I'll ever change," I smiled.

Thinking back to that conversation with Stephen made me realize that the things I had said became real to me. Like I had been living my life that way, but saying the words out loud made it more real than it ever was. It is horrible, but it is me.

"Well, it's not like I care," I mumbled to myself as I shut down my laptop. It was time to leave the office, where I believe I had overworked myself.

"Hey, I just knew you'd be getting off work now," Pete appeared.

"Mr. Stone wants us to have a group dinner," Pete reported.

"Aw, sadly I have dinner plans. Send my love to everyone," I gathered all my stuff, walked to Pete who stood just outside my door, and gave him a lingering kiss on his cheek.

"Ha. Have a good night, Mel," Pete had a bright smile on his face just like I knew he was going to have.

I pulled out my phone from my bag to call my “bag of money.”

"Hey hot stuff," I hailed when Reeves picked up.

"What is it this time?" Reeves asked.

"Oh, please don't pretend like you didn't miss me. I just got off work, let's have dinner," I wasn't particularly asking him to have dinner with me; let's just say that he knew he had to have dinner with me.

"Okay,"

"I know a good place, I'll text you the location," I said.

"Okay,"

"And Reeves, no funny business," I warned.

"Okay,"

"Good," I smiled and hung up.

I know I had warned Reeves about sending his secretary to me, and I knew I had something against him, but the way he was letting me have my way didn't quite sit well with me. Don't judge me, okay? When I feel something, I feel it, and I feel like something is off.

I texted Reeves the address of one of my favorite restaurants, it was expensive and very fancy. Personally, I didn't like the food there much, I just liked the look on the faces of the men I took there when they saw the prices of the food, hilarious, if you ask me.

I made a reservation for the both of us and went on my way, I had to make sure I got there before him.

There was a thing I did whenever I asked anyone to take me out to dinner, especially when we were going separately. I'd make sure I got to the restaurant first, then I would order three glasses of water, one of which I'd down, to pretend like I've been at the restaurant for a long while. So, when the men arrive, I'd tell them how they kept me waiting for so long and then they'd tell me they’d make it up to me. It always ended up in me getting a very expensive gift or getting a fat check, either way, I got paid.

Five minutes later, Reeves appeared in all his glory, turning the heads of almost everyone, if not everyone in the restaurant.

When I had seen him approach me, I folded my right arm under my left arm, while holding my phone in my left hand, pretending to be uninterested and busy.

"I didn't know you'd be here this early. I'm sorry I'm late," Reeves hovered over me.

Not only did he look good in the army green dress shirt and black pant suit he had on, but he also smelled really nice too. The cologne he had on didn't have a strong smell, it was soft, and it lingered for a long time. It was that type of cologne that you’d stay all night, thinking about, the type you’d ever forget.

Reeves' hair was packed in a messy bun; and the stray hairs around his face only made him more appealing. Although he looked good, almost too good to get me drooling, I had a role to play, and it was the “I’m annoyed” role.

I let out a small breath, and looked up at him through my eyelashes, to show him that I was annoyed.

"I'm hungry," because I couldn't forgive him for being late.

"Okay," Reeves said and took his seat opposite me.

Reeves called for a waiter, and we placed our orders. I noticed how Reeves didn't look through the menu that was placed on his side of the table, he knew what he wanted already, which meant he came to the restaurant frequently. Well, that’s a little disappointing. I really wanted to see the look on his face when he saw the cost of the food.

"So, how was work?" I asked him.

"I'm not done working, I only came out because you threatened me," He was straight forward.

"You know you can sugar coat the last part, right? You don't have to make me look like the bad guy," I rolled my eyes.

"You did threaten me, you’re a bad guy," he kept a straight face.

"And you came late, made me get pity looks from people for all the twenty minutes I was here," I retorted.

Reeves kept his eyes on me for a few seconds then proceeded to take a sip from his water then he looked away.

"I won't say it twice," Reeves cleared his throat. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. I don't know why, but I felt like he would be like that. The arrogant type that couldn't apologize properly for what they did.

"I don't need you to say it twice, I just need you to pay for dinner," I gave him a close-lipped smile, cocking my head to the side a little.

On cue, our food came, and I dug in immediately.

There was a comfortable silence between us as we ate, nothing felt strained at that moment, well that was until my phone started ringing loudly.

It was an unknown caller. Usually, I didn't pick calls by unknown numbers, but the way Reeves kept looking from my phone to his plate, made me want to take the thing.

"I have to take this," I smiled at Reeves, and took the call.

"Hello?"

"Gem? Gem baby, I'm sorry," here we go again.

I shouldn't have taken the call for my own peace of mind. I didn't know who it was per say, but it was obvious that it was one of the many men that fell victim to my charms.

"What is it?" I rolled my eyes.

"Gem, tell me what you want, I'll do anything for you. Please come back to me. Please," The desperation in the man's voice disgusted me.

Reeves had stopped eating by now, he wasn't looking at me, or anything, but he was distracted so I stood up.

"Excuse me," I mouthed to Reeves and walked to the restroom.

"You should've never called me, Bryce," I said, finally recalling who the man was.

"Gem—"

"Listen to me! Don't ever call me, think about what you did and why I can never get with you again," I spat and hung up, then I blocked the number immediately.

Bryce was one of those men that thought just because they were buying gifts for me, that they had VIP access to my body. For Bryce in particular, I had to call the cops. I had to threaten him; I told him that if he didn't offer himself up for the officers to take him without any issue, I would call thugs on him, take videos of the thugs beating him up, then post it on the Internet. The policemen took him. No rich man I have met liked the Internet, they wanted to stay as far from it as possible, so they’d do anything to protect their image.

I let out a breath and shook my head, shaking off all the thoughts of Bryce that managed to find a place in my head. I was having a nice time with Reeves, and he just had to spoil it.

I washed my hands and went back out. When Reeves saw me, he picked up his fork and continued eating.

Was he waiting for me? If he was? Then that's just creepy, cute?

"Sorry for that, that was my ex," I said nonchalantly as I took my seat.

"I never asked," Reeves didn't even look up at me as he spoke, he just said the words and put the forkful of pasta into his mouth.

For some reason, he seemed annoyed, like the call affected him or something close. I didn’t understand his behavior, so I didn't know how to respond.

I pressed my lips together looking at Reeves’s head as it went up and down, eating his food without looking at me even once.

"I think this is one question I've always wanted to ask," I started, and for the first time since I came back from my call, Reeves looked at me.

"Why don't you want your business on the Internet?" I asked.

"It bothers me, and that is why I'm doing this, doing anything you want so you won't put my business out there," Reeves spat.

It was not Reeves' words that annoyed me, it was how he said the words, how he sounded when he said them. Sure, I was threatening him, but he didn't have to make it sound like I'm some type of horrible human; I mean I know I am, but he didn't have to remind me.

"Okay, I'm done eating. I'll see you tomorrow hotshot, and don't forget, you're going to pay me for keeping me waiting for twenty minutes," I got up.

Reeves looked confused.

"Enjoy the rest of your dinner," I smiled and walked away.

The man had to be bipolar, because how is it that he was perfectly fine before my call, and then he turned into an arrogant jerk after? I wanted to be angry, I wanted to walk away knowing I was angry at him, but I couldn’t because firstly, I wasn’t in any type of romantic relationship with the man, secondly and most importantly, it would mean I dropped the challenge to get him, which isn’t like me.

I’m Melanie Bin, I get what I want when I want it, no matter what!