26. Not Part Of This World

"Well, guess I can't announce my engagement the way I wanted," West said, walking into his mother's living room the next day.

Braylon and Lily had arrived a few hours ago with the rest of the family. They had a big breakfast and opened gifts. He knew Lily would be pissed, but he didn't care. They'd exchanged gifts at his place before they left town.

No way he wasn't giving her something today. His mother would never let him hear the end of it.

His mother had given Lily a pretty silk top after he'd told her his girlfriend's size and style. Talia had a love for jewelry making and gave a piece to Lily and Abby.

But he'd handed her a small box, announced to everyone they'd already exchanged gifts but he had one more thing.

She'd frowned and then caught herself.

He thought for sure she was going to cry when she opened the diamond earrings.

She wore gold hoops daily and had little silver studs in the second hole. He told her to put the diamonds there.

They were the same size as her silver studs. A carat apiece. He didn't care about the cost and she knew that but gave him a hard time after for giving her more.

He didn't want her to feel bad and told her that. But he loved her and there was no reason he couldn't spoil her.

He knew Abby and Lily had talked some after too, but he stayed out of it.

"What happened?" Laken asked.

"Celia just texted me. You know she'd never bother me on a holiday so I knew there was a problem when her name came up."

West moved over to Abby. "Oh man. That's not even a good picture," Abby said.

"What is it?" Braylon asked.

West tossed his phone and he caught it, then looked. "That's a good picture," he said.

It was Lily and Abby sitting next to each other at the game last week. Him on one side of Lily, West on the other side of Abby. Abby was brushing her hair from her face and there was a brief glimpse of a ring, but you couldn't see anything else.

The headline said, "Did the Billionaire Get Engaged To His Cinderella?"

"It's not really announcing it," he said.

"Nope," West said. "I told Celia to ignore it. She's been getting emails and texts from the press."

"It's the holiday," Abby said. "They should leave her alone. Why does anyone care about it?"

"Let me see the picture," his mother said, taking the phone out of his hand. "Oh, it is a lovely picture of you two girls. Why don't you like it, Abby? You've got matching shirts on."

Braylon laughed over that. He was expecting to get more inquiries now on who was with him. There was no one else in the picture even though the VIP box was packed with family members.

It was obvious Lily was with him, with his arm over her shoulder as he watched the game.

"We do," Abby said. "It is a good picture, but I expected something else if they were going to find out. I knew I shouldn't have had my ring on."

"You should wear it," Lily said. "It's a symbol. Who cares what other people think or say about it."

"Well said," Laken said. "So now what? You told Celia not to respond. That will buy a day."

"Guess I need to decide today on what picture we want to release," West said, laughing.

"You know you're going to get calls for an exclusive," Braylon said.

"I am. That is why I asked Celia to keep it low-key. No one knows but family at this point." He'd been told Abby didn't wear her ring to work for her last few weeks.

He didn't worry about Lily knowing. He trusted her.

"I'm not interested in a cover story," Abby said.

"Why not?" Trevor said. "Don't people get paid for those things? Can't you pick where you want to do it and donate the money? Now is your chance to show the world what you're really like."

He smiled at Trevor when he said that.

"I don't know," Abby said.

"I think you should," his mother said. "You know they are going to look into you even more. Braylon put a stop to it all before, but if you give your side, maybe it will shut people up. Take the bull by the horns. West knows that."

"I'm with our parents," West said. "I can have Celia shop it around. We'll use the pictures from today. We'll have the say and give what we want. Donate the money to whatever mental health foundation you want. Do it for your mother."

"My mother doesn't know about you," Abby said. "Not really. We've kept it as quiet as possible."

"It will be fine," West said, reaching for her hand. "She'll be fine. We'll make sure of it. We don't have to list names, just say that you have strong ties to mental illness in the family and there is so much that can be done. Think about it."

"But think fast," Braylon said. "That is what West is trying to say."

He looked at Lily as she took everything in and didn't say a word. He didn't know what was going through her mind just like he didn't know what she was thinking when they had some pictures taken of the two of them. Then she and Trevor were included in a big family photo.

He was thrilled his family was so accepting of his girlfriend, but he didn't expect anything different.

When they were at the hotel later that night, he said, "You've been quiet all afternoon. What's wrong?"

"Every time I think I'm getting comfortable around your family, something like VIP seats and private jets, celebrity magazine offers pop up and remind me that I'm not part of this world."

It was not what he wanted to hear.

"Stop. West is the face behind the money and the organization. The rest of us are just siblings. We are pretty much left alone."

"So no one is going to look into me?" she asked.

"There might be some people asking questions, but I'm not the one they are interested in."

"Stop that," she said. "You're successful in your own right. Your family knows it too and they look up to you just as much as you look up to West."

"I know," he said. "I didn't mean that. I'm just saying that I'm his brother that works for him."

"Withhim," she argued. "He wouldn't be as successful as he is without you and you know it."

He smiled. "I like to think that."

She went into his arms. "I don't know why you always put him on this pedestal. You should be right there with him."

"I think he has me there with him, but I don't need the rest of the world to know," he said. "I never have. Those I love know it. That's good enough for me. So don't worry about this article. It will blow over, but I'll take care of it."

"Meaning what?" she asked.

"When a story leaked about Abby and her family, I took care of it personally. I'm the one that West has to do that, not Thomas. It pissed Thomas off, but it was family."

"What don't I know or don't I need to know?"

"You can know. It's not a big deal. I mean I don't think Abby will care that you know. Her mother pretty much abandoned her when she was a kid."

"She said her father and sister raised her. She said her mother had some substance addictions and abuse," she said.

"And mental health issues. Her mother was just released from rehab a month ago and is back in a group home. Abby doesn't like her private life out there for all to know. She'll be fine that you know. She was worried that it'd embarrass her father."

"It didn't seem to embarrass him by what he said tonight," she said.

"I think Trevor is a great guy. He's not embarrassed other than he wished he could have helped his ex-wife. Those are words from West to me. I think his suggestion was great. My point is, when people started calling and wanting statements, I was the one knocking on doors threatening legal action if anything untrue was published or any lines crossed. They backed down fast."

Normally the threat of lawsuits did it.

Lily nodded. He wasn't sure what she was worried about and wanted to take her mind off of it.

"It's been a long day. All that food is making me sleepy," he said. "I think I need to make it up to you for all the surprises on this trip."

"I'm still not happy about the earrings," she said. "But I'd be lying if I didn't say I love them. Quinn told me to stop being a brat and be happy."

"Good," he said. "I'm glad she put you in your place." He hadn't known she talked to her sister about them but was glad it seemed as if he had a lot of people on his side.

"No more talk about this," she said. "Let's get to bed. You can put me to sleep."

He moved out of her arms and put his hand to his heart. "I'm hurt you think I'm so boring I'm going to put you to sleep."

"Stop it," she said, grinning. "You relax me like no one else ever has in my life. That is what I meant."

"Then let me do it," he said, picking her up and laying her on the bed.

"How about I thank you for the gift instead?" she said, turning when he laid her down and pushing him so that she was straddling his hips.

"Well," he said. "I'm not going to stop anything you want to do in bed, but I don't want you doing it for thanks."

"Not the way you think," she said. "I just want to do what I feel."

"Then I'm all for it," he said, putting his hands behind his head.

"Nope," she said. "Undress."

"You're not going to do it for me?" he asked.

"No," she said. "I've got to remove my own clothes. Let's see who is faster."

He sat up and started to undress as he watched her doing the same thing.

When she was naked before him, she dove on the bed. She wasn't normally this playful and he wasn't sure what came over her, but he was going with it.

She shoved him on his back and then attacked him.

Her mouth was trailing kisses over his chest and down his ribs, his stomach. He sucked it in when it almost tickled, but she didn't stop.

She grabbed his dick, wrapped her hand around it, started to jerk him off and then covered him with her mouth.

She was attacking him so fast and in so many different directions he couldn't stop and just feel it as much as he wanted to.

"Slow down, Lily."

She shook her head at him and kept it up. He wasn't going to last long and tried to get her to stop again.

Right before he was ready to come, she took her mouth off of him and jerked him off until he came all over his stomach.

He expected her to get a towel or something, but instead she ran her finger through it. "You know, I don't know why, but I have the urge to just touch you. Touch this. It's warm and soft, silky. It symbolizes life. Yours."

"At some point," he said.

"Not anytime soon," she said. "I'm not saying that, just saying that it amazes me how every part of you, I just want to touch and taste."

She put her finger in her mouth.

He might have never been as turned on as he was right now.

He found his shirt and wiped off his stomach and then flipped her on her back, put his arms behind her knees and lifted her up high and wide, then slid into her fast.

"That's it," she said. "Fast. Like you mean it. That you need to beat me since I beat you getting undressed."

She was laughing as she moaned at the same time and he loved this side of her he'd never seen before.

He wanted to show her up but not leave her hanging. "I won't come until you do, so make it fast."

"I'm right there," she said.

He was pushing into her faster, his abs almost hurting with the movements of his body.

She started to screech and pulse around him, giving him no choice but to follow.

He dropped down on top of her, sweat on his brow and out of breath.

"Damn," he said. "You know how to wear a guy out."

"Don't show your age now," she said, giggling.

"Brat," she said.

"I'm your brat though," she said softly.

"Yes, you are," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "Mine."