The Billionaires (#1)

38 || Cat Fight

“Please remind me why we are here again?” Liam asked for the nth time. They had only been here for about fifteen minutes, but he was already complaining. They were currently parking in front of the University of Cape Town campus, waiting for the clock to turn to four. What MJ did not realise was that it was almost 5p.m. and that they had been waiting for almost an hour, but she was too occupied to notice.

“We are here to meet with Shannon Botha, the girl from the restaurant.” MJ said, leaning against the passenger window as she watched students pile in and out of the building.

The University of Cape Town was tremendous. The front view was a sight to see. MJ admired the splendour, but Liam was anything but enthusiastic. “You already said that, what I don’t understand is why we are here, why couldn’t we meet her at the restaurant?” Liam asked, agitated.

“Because if we don’t meet with her, she’s going to rat us out to her boss.” MJ said in a calculative voice, and Liam rolled his eyes and looked out the window. He did not understand why MJ was succumbing to a little girl’s threats when she could just deal with her like she always did with perpetrators, but here she was, acting like Miss Goody-Two-Shoes.

MJ was no saint and of all people, Liam knew her best and knew MJ was not someone who could easily be bullied by people like Sonya Smith and Shannon Botha; she was a ruthless person. She held most men hostage and punished them severely, but she had never killed; that was his job. As for women, she took care of them herself and never harmed them physically, her worst was one woman who ended up in an asylum, but other than that, ideal threats were enough.

After fifteen long minutes, MJ caught a glimpse of a girl walking out of Campus and down the stairs towards the roadside. She looked quite familiar even without her uniform, she still looked the same; she was adorned in pale-blue ripped jeans, a yellow cropped-top, and short nude heels. She had a sling bag and her hands were slipped into her jean pockets. Her blond-brown hair hung on her shoulders and she was wearing purple shades. She looked chirpy and was somewhat oblivious to the situation; that much MJ noticed when she walked at an angle from their car.

MJ rolled down her window and Liam closed it, she sighed and glared at his back. “Here she comes, and don’t even think of 1000 ways to punish her; I don’t want anything to happen to her.” MJ said warningly, and Liam smiled. When MJ attempted to open the window again, Liam locked it. “Jesus, you are just as annoying as Jorge! Open the bloody window before the girl passes.” MJ snapped, exasperated, but Liam just chuckled and rolled down the window, and then he hooted for her.

When Shannon looked in the direction of the car, she was shocked for a moment before a ghost of a smile tugged at her lips and she strolled towards the car. “Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked with a big smile, and MJ narrowed her eyes at her.

“Waiting for you.” MJ said with a blank face, but Shannon chuckled.

“Is this about what happened at the restaurant?” Shannon asked, and MJ raised an eyebrow at her. “Girl, you are so naïve. I was only joking; I am not going to tell Logan anything. It is not like you are doing anything to harm him; you have your own money, so whatever reason behind your act is none of my business, and besides, it’s high time Logan experienced something new in his life.” Shannon said, her cheeks turning slightly red, and MJ gave her an incredulous look.

“You mean to tell me that I drove all the way here, and waited for you for an hour for nothing?” MJ asked her through gritted teeth, but Shannon threw her a cheeky smile and walked to the other side of the car, she opened the passenger door and hopped in next to MJ. Both Liam and MJ looked at her as if she was crazy, but she sighed and smiled at MJ.

“Not quite, now that you are here, you can take me to my place; it’s a fifteen minutes’ drive from here.” Shannon said, suppressing a laugh from the look on MJ’s face. “So, what do you say?” She raised an eyebrow at her.

“Get out of my car.” MJ gritted.

“What? And miss a free ride home? Hell no!” Shannon shook her head stubbornly and buckled up her seatbelt. MJ clenched her teeth and looked away, and Liam could not help but smile. Looks like he and his boss’s new companion were going to be good friends. “Hey, come on, MJ. My cousin is waiting for me and she doesn’t have a key to my room.” Shannon whined.

“Where do you stay?” Liam asked and turned on the ignition, and MJ threw him a look over the mirror, but he smirked.

“Oh! I live at a student house, just drive straight; I’ll let you know when we are there.” Shannon chirped happily and looked outside her window with a happy smile as the car drove away from the building.

“So, Shannon, what are you studying?” Liam suddenly asked and gave her a quick glance through the rear-view mirror, and MJ rolled her eyes and continued staring outside her window.

“I’m doing my third year in Anthropology.” She said with a small smile and Liam nodded, and then they were back to silence again until they arrived at the student house where Shannon stayed and she stepped out of the car. “Could you wait here for a second, I made some Samosas yesterday; thought you’d like some.” Shannon offered with a warm smile, and MJ said no the same time Liam said yes. “Great, just a second!” She said and ran into the yard.

The place was not a student house; it was more like a student village. It was big yard fenced with a high walls painted in white and lavender. There were many houses inside; single, double, and triple storeys. There were two large brown gates, and there seemed to be a tight security because they had an alarm system, cameras, and security guards, and to top it off, students had to use access cards to enter the yard. The security had given Shannon a hard time when Liam wanted to park inside because MJ told him to; she insisted that they could not just drop her off outside the yard.

There were a lot of cars parked inside and there was loud music blaring out. Students were all over the place; there was obviously a party. MJ looked at her watch; it had been five minutes since Shannon left, and MJ was starting to grow impatient. She had a long day, and all she wanted right now was to go home and take a long bubble bath.

“Don’t you think she’s taking too long for someone who’s going to fetch food?” MJ asked, and Liam shrugged. A few seconds passed and then a loud roar rose from the students as they all ran towards one of the buildings. There were cheers and whistling mixed with some shouting, and MJ got a sick feeling in her stomach. “Liam, I think we should leave.” MJ said, but Liam ignored her and rolled down his window.

He squinted his eyes as he watched security rush past their car towards where the drama was taking place. “I think there’s a fight.” He said, and MJ took in a sharp breath. She hoped that Shannon was not keeping them waiting here while she watched some students fight. The noise subsided for a second before sounds of triumph rose again, and the crowd seemed to be moving towards the gate. Liam caught a sight of some people pulling at each other while the securing guard and some other person tried to pull them apart, all the while; the students were not even trying to stop the fight. For a second, Liam thought he had seen Shannon in the crowd, but he brushed it off. However, seconds later, another guard rushed to the scene and pushed the crowd aside, and Liam saw who was fighting; it was two girls, and one of them was Shannon. “MJ, it is Shannon.” Liam said urgently, and MJ jerked up from her seat.

“What?” She asked in a panicked voice, but Liam was already out of the car. “Liam!” MJ shouted, but he was already jogging towards the fight, and was soon swallowed by the crowd.

MJ had a bad feeling about all of this, Liam should not be getting involved in students’ fights because he was a visitor here, but then here he was. Silence fell again and MJ thought it was over, but then another roar resounded and MJ felt cold all over again; what if Liam was now the one fighting? She wondered, but her mind was put to rest when Liam emerged from the crowd with Shannon screaming, kicking, and wiggling in his arms. He had her locked in his arms with her back pressed firmly against his chest.

Her hair was a mess, her face tear-stained, and she was missing one shoe. Her sling bag and top were torn, and her shades were nowhere in sight.

MJ stepped out and opened the door for Liam when he approached as he struggled to get Shannon into the car. “Let me go! Let me go!” She yelled while kicking the door so that Liam could not get her into the car, but Liam trapped her against the car and held her legs, and then he picked her up and dumped her into the car. She tried to get out using the other door, but Liam closed the door she entered with and locked the car.

“What happened to her?” MJ asked.

“Get in the car, I’ll explain later.” Liam said and opened the door for MJ, and quickly closed it after she entered. He got into the driver’s side and hooted at the security to open the gate. He sped out of the gate and drove to Sonya’s apartment.

Shannon was crying all the way, and no one spoke a single word. When they arrived at Sonya’s apartment, Liam helped Shannon out of the car; she looked weak and broken.

Liam took her to Sonya’s room, and she curled herself into bed while crying. Liam draped a blanket over her and left her in the room to join MJ in the sitting room.

“What happened?” MJ asked, folding her arms over her chest while she peeked at the closed door over Liam’s shoulder.

Liam looked angry and tense, and MJ suspected that it was something serious. He sighed and leaned against the wall, “Shannon was fighting with her cousin.” Liam said with a hard voice, and MJ shuddered. She removed one hand from her chest and used it to brush a lock of her behind her ear.

“Why? Why would she fight with her cousin? She seemed eager to see her earlier.” MJ said, remembering when Shannon begged her to take her home.

Liam laughed darkly and shook his head. “She was, until she found her sleeping with her boyfriend in her bedroom.”