The Landon Billionaires (7 stories)

CHAPTER NINE: TRUTH OR DARE

As from the next day, Chase felt a difference in the woman he had held in his arms the previous night. She had looked so forlorn that he had forgotten his vow to stay away from her. Besides, she had felt so damn good in his arms last night that he could not even express regret at his lack of self-restraint.

However, he had a strange feeling – like he had opened Pandora’s Box. Demetria was nothing like the shallow person he had assumed in the first place, could not help feeling incredibly touched by her insecurities. For a whole week, he had ignored her, and she had never once complained. He never knew what she did in her spare time, all he knew was that she was keeping herself busy with significant things.

He should have kept his mouth shut but when he had seen her in the black mini, his pulse had started racing. It was only l**t, despite the fact that he could no longer deny the fierce jealousy which had gripped him when she had announced that she had a date. At first he had not believed her since it was already eight months into their marriage, and he had never found Demetria even remotely interested in the opposite s*x.

So much so that he had started to believe she did not fare well…in that department. Maybe she was frigid or something. He wished he could stop the vivid erotic dreams about her though. It was uncomfortable not to mention painful walking with a hard-on all day trying to avoid her. He had to stop it now though. He could not go on treating her like trash. Not after the ice had melted last night.

Maybe they could be friends.

Inspired, he ran to her room and knocked before opening the door a fraction. “Are you decent?” he asked, receiving no reply so he opened it another c***k to the view of her back while she was facing the window. As he approached, he realized that she had earphones on, probably the reason why she had not heard him knock. To his surprise, he saw a canvas on her lap as she sat cross legged on the floor staring out at the window.

He touched her gently, but she jolted and whirled around anyway almost jumping out of her skin. He could hardly blame her since he had not once made an effort to socialize with her. Usually when they had breakfast, he would leave her to fend on her own while he monopolized the study to conduct his business. Now the decision was taken. He was going to tell her the truth. About his lie.

Standing up, she removed the earphones from her ears and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry didn’t hear you knock.”

Just like that, he felt his heart melt. Her mask had fallen, and Chase had almost wished that she had put it back so that it would give him an excuse to revert back to his morose mood. There was no escaping though, especially when the woman in shorts who had been whistling cheerfully while preparing another killer breakfast that morning had nothing in common with the pristine bristled bride he had ordered for. He was only too glad.

“What are you doing?” he asked, curiously bending over to see the painting she had been working on, which she had set aside when standing up.

She made a grimace which was endearing as well as a turn on. Everything about her now turned him on. Her tousled long hair. Her expressive grey eyes. Her free smile. Her long endless creamy legs. It was so difficult for him that he wondered how she would react if he grabbed her and kissed her senseless.

She wasn’t ready for his onslaught yet. For the moment, she was not sexually aware of him – she was interested all right, not maddeningly so though. He wanted her wanting him as much as he wanted her and then he would have his feast. He was an all-or-nothing kind of guy.

“I am painting,” she said. Then she scowled at her curt reply. “Sorry, habit. I am trying to paint but the picture is not turning out really well.”

Then she told about how she was unable to use the right amount of water with her acrylic style of painting, and she had signed up for a course to correct her under-binding errors – heaven knew what that meant. That was how she had met Eva and really liked her. Chase listened to her not because he was interested, simply because it gave him immense pleasure to know she was opening to him like that.

“She seems to like you as well, cariña,” he supplied, absent-mindedly looking for an opening to tell her about the false financial problem he had concocted two weeks ago. It seemed like a lifetime ago. For the life of him, he did not find the courage to tell her. She looked so happy with her new-found freedom that he sensed she needed more time before he could tell her the truth.

Or maybe he was a coward. Fearing how she would react. How she would regard him. It would be detrimental to him if she no longer looked at him with stars in her eyes. Like he was a knight or something. It had been something he missed; something his brothers had considered him before he screwed everything up by turning his back on them.

He did not want the easy camaraderie between the two of them to end. He swallowed the words which was threatening to spill.

“Let’s go for a tour,” he said instead, while Dem looked at him in awe. Then, she beamed at him like a child being given their most awaited Christmas gift.

As they made their way through the city, they chatted easily about mundane things except that whenever her parents were mentioned, a shadow casted over her face and she gave him her over bright smile. Things were really bad in that department, he could not get her to talk about it though. Not that he was a push-over, but he felt curious to know about that part of her life. To soothe her concerns. To comfort her misgivings.

For all it was worth, she never behaved like a filthy rich heiress. Gradually, her enthusiasm became contagious, and he found himself enjoying himself in her company. Her quick wit was flagrant when she talked about things she knew about, and she even impressed him when she told him she had a degree. The press had always pictured her as a stupid, useless illiterate.

“No kidding! Your parents don’t know you have a degree?” he exclaimed in surprise.

Grinning, she shook her head in a negative answer, her smile getting wider when he whistled in admiration.

“How the hell did you manage that?”

“I used to jump out of windows to sneak out of the house! I wore sneakers and that horrible wig during the lectures.”

He faltered at the confession. It must not have been easy for her to fight for something most would consider their right, and that too against all odds. So that was why she was doing her best to pursue her formal education in every department possible. Like she had signed up for culinary and garden design courses and was looking forward to completing her Masters. Which unfortunately led to the question he had been avoiding.

“When do you think we could go back to Cal?”

When earlier, he would have grumbled something unintelligible, now he stood facing her expectant grey eyes. He felt the sudden urge to kiss her. So he opted for the truth instead.

“I don’t know.”

She turned her sympathetic eyes on him misinterpreting his curt reply with the fact that he still had not overcome his so-called problem. It made him feel like a heel for hiding the truth from her. Maybe he should tell her that the problem was solved, and he had gotten back his money, but he hated the idea of lying to her for a second time.

“Let’s sit for a while,” she said as they reached a peaceful park. They slumped their bodies onto the ground, and she removed a homemade croissant from her bag. He would never get tired of enjoying her cuisine delicacies.

“I don’t know how you can cook like that,” he muttered appreciatively as he finished the croissant in two bites. Laughing, she handed him hers confessing that she preferred others appreciating her cooking to eating it herself. No wonder she was so thin then– she looked almost anorexic.

She removed a bottle of water, relaxing her body on the grass after taking a long sip. “Let’s play truth or dare,” she suddenly said, looking at him in the eye, and Chase did not like it. She had a purposeful streak in those pale grey pools which gave him an uncanny feeling about getting trapped.

“We're only two people, cariña,” he said benignly at her. There was no point spinning the bottle.

“I know. Let’s play it my way.” She removed a pack of cards and stated that they play rummy and the loser would have to either choose between truth or dare. Chase finally gave in.

First round she lost, to which she chose truth. This was getting interesting.

“Tell me something about yourself that you wouldn’t want anyone else to know,” he asked.

She laughed mirthlessly. “There are too many. I'll tell you the safest one. I hate my name but I suppose everyone does at some point in time in their life,” she confessed a bit self-consciously.

Chase gave her an ‘are-you-kidding-me’ look and made an exaggerated pout. “I hate your name too.”

Flustered, she pressed her cards against her mouth. “This is so not gallant of you! You're supposed to tell me my name's lovely or something,” she wailed comically while distributing another hand. Chase grinned inwardly. This was fun.

Second round she lost again to choose truth.

“Hmmmm....Why did you accept to marry me?”

There was a dead silence before she shrugged. “I always knew my parents were going to fix me up with some rich guy. When father announced that it was you, I was almost relieved.”

Chase was intrigued. “You mean to say you wanted to marry me?”

“That's two questions,” she pointed out, and Chase waited for the third round which she lost again. He repeated the question.

“No. But I preferred you to the others,” she replied with a sincere note in her voice. “You have no idea how the other men my mother used to throw at me could behave.”

The last sentence was so inaudible that he had to strain his ears to grasp it. Some protective instinct inside him took charge. Other men? Behave? His Neanderthal half was back.

“What do you mean? What did they do to you?” he rasped his imagination running wild with the possibilities of other men hurting her. Forcing themselves on her. God, he felt sick.

“Oh no! Not that!” she hastened to clarify when she saw the murderous look on his face, and he let out a breath he had not been aware of holding. “They were all so....superficial. Wanting to please me for Father's sake. If you know what I mean...”

He knew only too well. Vultures waiting to devour their prey. However, he had never imagined that she would feel that way. She who fitted in their world like a second glove. He had always believed that he felt that way because he came with a lot of baggage from his impoverished past. Would never have associated that feeling of “ugly duckling” with the fact that they were exceptional human beings instead of greedy snobs.

“You should thank me then for accepting to get married to you.”

“Why did you?” she asked immediately just like he had predicted. He grinned and decided to bait her.

“For me to answer that you would have to win first,” he pointed out smugly to the pack of cards and whack! Dem sifted through the pack of cards with more force than necessary taking up the challenge he was throwing at her.

Unfortunately, she lost the fourth round as well.

“Man, you really suck at this!” he whistled impressed, taunting her but she shrugged.

He immediately felt suspicious. For someone who was losing so much, she was taking it quite well. Either she was a damn good loser or there was something else happening.

“Truth.”

“Coward,” he whispered but knew she heard him when her head whooped up and she met his gaze full of indignation. “Who hurt you in the past?”

She gaped at him. “Samuel Patterson.”

“Who was he?”

She remained silent and passed another hand of cards. Chase grinned. Okay! So she was going to play it cool now. Surprise surprise! She lost the fifth round as well.

“Was he your ex-lover?”

“No.”

Damn! From her pissed expression he deduced that was all he was going to get because he had teased her earlier. Thankfully she did not stop playing. She played another hand and lost again. He had to think about his question this time because he did not want a monosyllable as answer.

“What did he do to you that you would feel hurt?”

“He betrayed me.”

Chase sighed and had to wait until he beat her another round to ask again. “How did that Samuel betray you, cariña?” he asked gently since he gathered it was a sensitive subject.

She looked up at him then her sulking gone. “I thought he was my best friend. We met during a soccer match, he acted like he wanted to be friends with me. Like my money did not matter. We had plans. I was supposed to go with him on my eighteenth birthday...then I caught him sleeping with my mother.”

Chase gasped in shock and felt sorry for her. From what he had gathered, she had little friends if any, so Samuel’s betrayal must have cut deep. He must have played his role exceptionally well for Dem to have fallen in his trap since he had managed to get through her armor. Only to discover that her parent was an adulteress on top of that was not easy.

“Did you love him?” he asked. He was only curious, he told himself. Everybody had a past after all. After all, he was no saint himself. Somehow, he fervently wished Dem had not given him more than her trust.

She gestured towards the pack of cards and sighed resignedly when she lost again. “No thank God. He was just a friend, but I trusted him.”

“I know, princess.”

“Don't call me that!” she snapped and Chase was surprised at her vehemence. “I'm sorry. I hate endearments.” She would have stopped there, then as an afterthought, she went on. “My mother... I mean the rich people use it all the time. Incessantly. Like it's a word. When they never mean it.”

Chase nodded in understanding, tactfully refraining from pointing out that she never protested when he called her cariña. His precious.

“Point taken. Now can you please make an effort here?” he asked, lightening the atmosphere with his joke. He did not want to spoil her mood anymore. He understood her better now and regretted having misjudged her. There was no point driving her out of his life. If she was that precious, he could keep her for himself.

They would become friends and co-habit like roommates did all the time.

She lost another hand, and Chase asked her a harmless question. “What's your favorite color?”

If she seemed surprised, she did not let it show and replied. “Not one in particular. I love all colors. I'm a painter, remember?”

For some reasons that answer annoyed the hell out of him because it was something only Demetria could have said.

“Right. Can we just conclude you're a lousy rummy player, please?”

She was hell-bent on continuing the game. Sighing, Chase chose to humor her except he had one condition. That the next time she lost, she would chose “Dare”.

“I'm not losing this one,” she insisted and distributed the cards once again. She was in luck this time, his cards sucked.

She won. Chase chose truth. He then realized one thing. Demetria had been playing along for this particular moment only. That was why she had been such a perfect loser. She had only been waiting for her turn to ask one question.

A question he was dreading. What kind of personal question would she come up with? Chase was uncomfortable sharing parts of himself until he was sure that the person meant him no harm. Demetria was harmless enough in terms of physical assaults, but he knew he could not allow himself to be emotionally vulnerable around her. Not when he already fancied her too much for his own good. Unfortunately, he had let that small infatuation flourish into insatiable l**t.

Or maybe he was reading too much in the situation. Maybe she would only be typically curious asking him about his poor past. Or the number of his lovers. He wished it was going to be something petty or insignificant, he somehow knew Dem was more than that.

“If you had a wish – one which was dearest to your heart - what would it be, Chase Landon?”

Even if he had expected that kind of deep and intense question, Chase could only stare at her dumbfounded. It was so carefully formulated that he knew she had been planning to ask him exactly that ever since they had started the game. The little minx.

Gulping, he sifted through the cards unable to swallow the lump past his throat. For some stupid inexplicit reason, Dem was turning him into an emotional fool. He knew the answer to that question, of course. It was the core of him and he wondered how she could have gotten to that.

Why wasn't she pestering him to answer? He was taking his own sweet time using the pack of cards as a distraction, while she stood immobile looking like a million dollar chick waiting patiently for him to answer. He knew what she was playing at. She was giving him a taste of his own medicine, following his advice about having a piece of someone when one wanted to be close.  She wanted a piece of him, and he was still indecisive whether he wanted to give her that part of him. For it would create an indestructible bond between them.

Finally, he answered.

“I wish to be close to my brothers again,” he finally replied unable to hide the huskiness in his voice at the effort such an answer was costing him.

Crisply, she nodded like she was only confirming something she already knew. Grabbing her bag, she tried for a light tone.

“We can go back now.”

“Not so fast. You owe me one dare,” he replied promptly wanting to bait her again in guise of punishment for what she had forced him to do.