2. Ollie

CHAPTER 2

Ollie

“What are you waiting for?”

Julianna held out her hand and smiled back at me over her shoulder. Her silky, black hair that held the slightest hint of blue in the tresses, swished around her shoulders with the movement. Those unreal, azure eyes of hers sparkled like jewels as she teased me with that look that made her puffy lips tip up ever so slightly at the corner.

Even with the new addition of the scars on her face, she was still one of the most physically beautiful woman I’d ever seen. There was really only one woman who outdid her and I happened to be married to that one. The accident that earned Julia those scars was the only reason she had come back into my life. It wasn’t for me. It certainly wasn’t for our son. Still, I couldn’t shake the wild feeling of anticipation every time she was around.

That was how it had been at first. She had spent the past three months trying to convince me to give her the money to fix her face. There was a plastic surgeon who could do it, but the procedures involved were costly and Julianna, despite the claims her ego made before she left town, had not become the A- list actress she expected to when she ran away from her family to chase her dream.

“Jules,” I called to her.

“Don’t Jules me!” She huffed when it became obvious I didn’t want to play along with her latest game. A sour expression quickly replaced the elated one she wore just moments ago. “How many times do I have to tell you? It’s Jia now. Gee-ah!” She over-annunciated it, as if that would help me learn how to say her stage name. Then, she glanced around, as if someone might be listening in and moved closer to whisper. “I need you to use the right name, so if we’re spotted, they know who to report on.”

That made me cringe. “We better not be spotted, Jules.” I refused to use her stupid stage name. “I’m supposed to be in Vancouver on business, not in Vegas to consult with a plastic surgeon with my ex-girlfriend.”

“So.” She huffed again. “Who is going to care? Why are you lying anyway?”

“Um, my wife would definitely care,” I managed to choke out.

“Wife, pfft,” she spluttered. “You mean the glorified nanny you conned into taking care of your kid?”

“Our kid. Our son, Jules.”

She rolled her eyes at me and that sick feeling that I had well and truly fucked my life all to hell came clawing back into the pit of my stomach where the nausea built. I knew Jules’ game now. The woman I’d always loved and placed on a pedestal – even after she left me to raise our son alone while she chased her dream – had made certain to screw me over to the best of her ability. Now, I was nothing more than her lapdog doing her bidding and this latest three-day venture to Vegas was just another yank on my very short leash.

I’d fucked up.

The bitch of it was, that in fucking up in the worst way, I realized exactly what I stood to lose as opposed to the nothing that would be gained from my involvement with my ex. I would lose my wife over this – eventually. I might even lose my son. I had already been missing out on the close relationship we once had. It had been almost three days since I’d spoken to him and that was unheard of. I’d never gone so long without at least saying goodnight to my boy before.

I couldn’t call home because I was afraid that Jules would purposely say something in the background that Den might hear. He didn’t need to ask questions about how I was with or what he might overhear her saying. Worse, I worried that Steph would overhear her, or Den would say something to his stepmom about what he heard and then this farce would all have been for nothing.

Truthfully, at this point, my son would be far better off being raised by his stepmother than either of his biological parents. His biological mother and I have both made our fair share of selfish decisions that would end up impacting his life, and for my part, not in the better way it had when Jules left and I later found Steph. Even though I knew there wasn’t a judge out there who would give Steph custody of a non-biological child whom she hadn’t adopted, I knew that I’d lose my son anyway.

His heart would be broken when Steph divorced me – and she would. Everything would come out if someone got wind of what I’d been up to with my ex. That much was certain because nothing ever stayed secret long, especially if Jules was hell-bent on trying to be noticed.

Steph would be the one destroyed by the fallout eventually. That meant shit would also roll downhill and cover my son in the mistakes I’d made. My boy had grown so close to my wife that he called her Momma. I insisted on Momma Steph, to keep a line drawn, but that line I pushed didn’t matter to his heart. She was his person – more so than I was these days, since I was rarely home anymore.

The woman standing in front of me, staring me down with that hateful gaze of hers, was the reason I’d lost all that time with him. The same reason I’d lose my marriage. At the rate we were going, my business – which I’d been neglecting while humoring her endless searches for the “right doctor” – had also been neglected and the effects of that wouldn’t take long to be felt.

“Jules, you need to make a decision about a doctor if you plan to have me pay for it. If I’m not working, I’m not earning.” It was a refrain I’d used often with her over the past few months of her game playing, but she didn’t seem to grasp the fact that even my finances were finite if my business failed.

She rolled her eyes and waved off my concerns once again. “You know what, Ollie? You need to learn to delegate and then maybe the work would still get done without you having to be there. What’s the point in being the boss if you’re the only one who can get things done?”

She wasn’t exactly wrong, but she wasn’t right either. “Important clients, the ones who bring the money in, prefer to see my face at the meetings, Jules. Something else they prefer is to avoid scandals that might make them look bad. You do realize if someone did see us together, and take our photo, that you might get a little recognition, but I’d be dealing with a scandal that would cost me millions.”

That stopped my ex in her tracks. “What the hell, Ollie?” She screeched at me. “You never said that.”

“I’ve been saying it for months, Jules. You just haven’t been listening because, as usual, you’ve been too wrapped up in yourself to care about shit you think won’t have an impact on you.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I’ve decided that I’ll marry you, and we’ll play happy families for the camera. Then I’ll have the sympathy card to play in the media. My accident, and the amazing reunion story for our family, will elevate us both. It will be super positive press for me and everyone will take notice.”

“Did you forget the part where I am already married, Jules? That will not play out the way you think it will.”

“Sure it will. I’ll just tell everyone that the bitch you married was a homewrecker who broke us apart to begin with.”

“No one broke us apart. You were gone for years before she ever came into the picture.” My blood pressure was about to blow the top on the temper I’d barely managed to keep under wraps. “You will not villainize the woman who our son loves.”

“Whatever. She’s not his mother. He’ll forget about her quickly.”

“He’s eight fucking years old. He forgot about you because last time he saw you he was six months old! He won’t simply forget about the only woman who has raised him and the only parent who has been caring for him since you came back into my life. For fuck’s sake, you don’t even understand the amount of chaos you have caused. You’re single-handedly ruining my marriage, my fucking business, and your son’s only ties to the one person who hasn’t abandoned him.”

“The way I see it – no one forced you to stick your dick in me.” Her penciled in eyebrow rose a fraction as if she had me with that. “Now, unless you want that video to get out, I suggest you lean in and give me a kiss.”

I growled in frustration, but did what she asked because she had me by the short and curlies with that fucking video. “I fucked up when nostalgia took hold. You’re the one who planned the blackmail, though. You do know that is a crime, right?”

“Prove it.”

“Easy enough to do, since two can play the same game. If you don’t think I have some of our conversations recorded, you’re stupid.”

“If you even think of turning me in, I will make damn sure you are ruined and unable to come back from the damage.”

I growled out a sound of frustration. “Pretty sure you’ve already done that. Might as well stop shopping around for a doctor to fix your face. Unless you have another sugar daddy, or some other asshole you can blackmail who can front the bill for it, because I’m done here.”