Addicted (A Billionaire Romance Novel) Read online

  “Alex and I were on our own. We did okay until his accident.” She paused for a moment as she collected her thoughts. “He came home from school one day, pleading to go over to a friend’s house. The little boy only lived across the street, two houses up; it seemed harmless enough, or so I thought. I asked what they planned on doing. His little glimmering jade eyes looked right up at me and said, “He has a swing set and we’re going to play on it!” Busy with trying to clean and get dinner started, I stopped what I was doing and walked him over there. I never imagined it would be my last time hearing his voice or talking to him.”

  She stopped talking, replaying the day in her mind. Chad could see the pain on her face but allowed her to continue telling her story though he already knew most of it.

  “As I was chopping a head of broccoli, I heard tires squeal and someone scream. At first I didn’t think anything of it; cars always zoomed up and down our block, slamming on their brakes as children ran out in front of them. That’s when I realized, it could’ve been my son, and he was outside. I rushed over to the screen door and looked out at the road. I saw a man jumping out of his car, now double parked in the street, screaming for help. The cordless phone was on the small round table near the front door; I grabbed it and began calling for help. The operator asked what my emergency was, which at this point, I still wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. It became painfully evident that there was a car accident when I saw two small legs peering out from the front driver’s side tires.”

  “Are you okay?” Chad interrupted her as tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

  She didn’t answer right away; she drew a deep breath before continuing and shook her head.

  “There’s been an accident,” I said while running over to the car. That’s when I saw it. His khaki sandals; we’d bought them a few weeks before since he was growing like a weed and no longer fit last year’s sandals. “Oh my God! It’s my baby! My baby’s been hit by a car!” I cried into the phone.”

  “That must have been traumatic,” Chad acknowledged.

  “It was,” she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “And he had the most beautiful funeral. Well, as beautiful as it could be for a child.”

  “That’s awful. I wish I would’ve been there for you when you were going through that.”

  She sipped on her water, allowing an ice cube to roll around in her mouth before she continued.

  “There’s more that I need to tell you, though. I don’t know exactly what your intentions are, but I feel you should know the real me.”

  “Audrey, there’s nothing you could say to me to make me think anything badly of you,” he put his hand on her shoulder.

  “You say that now, but hear me out,” she looked deep into his eyes. “After his death, I was severely depressed.”

  “That’s understandable,” he said, squeezing her shoulder.

  “My doctor prescribed anti-depressants and medication to help me sleep; Ambien. I was becoming addicted to them, and soon I was asking for refills before they were due to be refilled. The doctor caught on that I was developing a habit.”

  “I’m sure you’re not the first person that’s happened to,” he tried to reason with her.

  “No, it’s not, but I took it a step further. When my doctor attempted to wean me off of them, I began buying pills off the streets. It gets expensive very quickly. There was this guy that I was buying them from, and I told him that I couldn’t afford it anymore and asked what my options were. I’d already pawned or sold everything I could.”

  It was becoming painful for Chad to listen to her describe her downward spiral, but he continued to look and tried to comfort her with gentle touches.

  “What did he say?” Chad asked, wondering where this was going and how bad it would get.

  “He said that he had some heroin that I could try; on the house. At first I said no, but then I finally agreed.”

  “God, Audrey,” he said, cupping his hand over his mouth as he shook his head. He never imagined sitting in her kitchen listening to her tell this story.

  “I never planned on shooting it. They say those people are junkies.”

  “Don’t tell me that you did,” he said, as a sudden coldness hit his core. He didn’t want to believe that she was one of them.

  “I snorted it for a while, but that only lasted for so long. My dealer said I should try smoking it to get a different high; so I did. Soon, that no longer worked and I eventually did begin shooting it.”

  Chad crumpled back in the chair, looking down at his feet. The woman he let ‘get away’ had experienced quite a rough past, and he wasn’t there to help her. He ran his hand through his hair as he thought of what to say. It felt like someone had jabbed a knife deep into the pit of his stomach; he could see her pain and feel it at the same time. His mind scrambled to understand everything that she’d just told him.

  Audrey remained silent for a moment as she wrapped her arms around herself and curled her knuckles into a ball. Her chin trembled as she thought of what must be going through Chad’s mind. Unable to meet Chad’s eyes, she sighed as she felt her face, neck, and ears becoming impossibly hot. Her thoughts panicked as she realized, he could get up and walk out of her house at any moment. Ashamed, the tears continued to flood her eyes.

  Chad sighed, “Audrey, I’m no one to judge you. Only you know why you did the things you did. All I can do is be here for you now and offer you support,” he said, getting up and hugging her.

  Audrey’s voice cracked, “I just thought that you should know where I’ve been and the things I’ve done. I’m not proud of them, but I thought the best thing for me to do was to be upfront about it with you.”

  He held her head in his hands as he searched for the right words. Praying that God would help him, his mind became clear. “Nothing that you could’ve ever done would make me think less of you. I want you to know that.”

  “If we’re being honest, can I ask you a question?” she whispered.

  “Of course,” he replied.

  “What are your intentions? Why did you take me out to dinner the other night and why are you here now?”

  “Audrey, I don’t know how to say this to you without sounding cheesy, but I’ve thought about you a lot over the years.” He bit his lip for a moment, carefully choosing his words. “I’ll be honest. I did try searching for you online, but I couldn’t find any of your social media accounts. Every time I clicked on one, it said it couldn’t display the page.”

  She interrupted him, “That’s because I shut them all down. When Alex died, I couldn’t deal with reality, or with people for that matter.”

  “I can understand that. Now, I’m going to tell you something, but I don’t want you to get the wrong impression.” He studied her face for a moment before deciding to continue. “I knew you had worked at Fast Fuel before I came in. I’ve never stepped foot in there a day in my life. It’s too deep in the ghetto, but when I found out you worked there, I had to go there.”

  “How did you know I worked there?” she asked, puzzled with her head cocked to the side.

  “Well, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. I saw your sister’s profile and hers is wide open to the public. I began scouring her posts and saw where she’d commented about how glad she was that the two of you were working together. I viewed at her ‘About Me’ section and saw that she worked at Fast Fuel.” He chose to omit the part that he’d already learned of her son’s death and the fact that he looked up his obituary.

  Audrey’s face lit up, flattered, as she smiled, “So you were stalking me?”

  “Uh, sure, if you like it.”

  They laughed.

  “Can I ask you another question?” she asked in a guarded, clipped tone.

  “Be my guest.”

  “I don’t know how to word this…do you…are you looking for a romantic relationship with me or just a friendship?” she had to hear it from him.

  “I’m not sure what kind of friends you’v
e had, but I don’t generally buy any of my friends roses and pick them up for a date,” he flashed a smile at her.

  “Aren’t you worried about your reputation though? What if it got out that you were dating a heroin addict?”

  “A recovering heroin addict,” he corrected her. “And so what? I’ll tell them all where they can shove it.”

  “But I remember a younger Chad, who would never commit to one woman,” she commented.

  “This is the older, new, improved version. Look, I don’t want to push things. If they happen, they happen. I can tell you, though, I am happy with the way things are working out so far.”

  Hearing those words were music to Audrey’s ears. This was exactly what she wanted, and what she needed. It had been quite a while since she could honestly say that she was happy; though, things only last so long.

  Chapter Five

  Things were going well between Chad and Audrey. After dating for several months, she finally found herself loosening up a bit more around him. There was no longer a reason for her to feel guarded anymore. Chad had finally began proving to her that he was a different person than the one she knew back in college. She was elated that he even took her to a Christmas party for his company, and he had no problem dangling her from his arm. She was just as beautiful as she was almost 10 years ago.

  One day while at work, Chad was in his office, going over some new improvements to his software when his secretary, Tina, popped her head into his suite.

  “Mr. Wetzel? I’m sorry to bother you but someone’s here to see you,” she said nervously.

  Without looking up, he said, “Tell them I’m busy and take a message.”

  “Mr. Wetzel? He won’t go away. He says he has some court papers for you,” she hid half of her face behind the door, leaving half of her brown poofy bangs exposed.

  Concerned, Chad stopped scanning over the computer monitor and looked up at her. “Court papers? What’s it about?”

  Whispering, Tina replied, “I don’t know Mr. Wetzel. He won’t tell me anything. Should I send him in?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Within a few moments, Tina returned with a short, round gentleman. The older man was wearing tan pants and a button-down shirt that looked like his belly threatened to bust each button off at any moment.

  Chad stood up from behind his desk and extended his hand to the gentleman.

  “Hi, I’m Chad Wetzel. How can I help you today?”

  The grumpy older man returned the handshake and wasted no time getting down to business.

  “Mr. Wetzel, I’ve been ordered to serve you papers on behalf of Christina Porter,” he said handing the manila folder over to Chad, which contained the court documents.

  “Christina Porter?” Chad questioned as he tried to jog his memory. He began leafing through the contents of the folder. “What’s this about?”

  “It’s child support related, sir.” The stout man said wiping his brow that was beading in sweat, despite it being cold outside.

  “What?” Chad asked in disbelief. “Child support?”

  “Look, I’m just the messenger. I don’t know the particulars. Have a good day, Mr. Wetzel,” the man said, bowing his head as he left Chad’s office suite.

  Stumbling back over to his desk, his thoughts were fuzzy as adrenaline surged through his body. Flopping into his chair, he leaned over his desk and began reading the documents. He learned that his daughter, Kayla Porter, was born almost nine years ago.

  “I can’t believe this,” he muttered as he continued reading the legal documents. “I just can’t believe it! Why would she wait all this time to tell me that we had a child together? And why is she just now filing for child support? This poor little girl probably thinks I’m some kind of deadbeat dad.”

  He saw that the attorney representing the case was one that he knew well. In fact, it was who helped him patent his software and get his business going. “This is great,” he murmured sarcastically.

  Overwhelmed with this new information, he abruptly closed the folder and leaned back in his chair. The room suddenly seemed to be getting warm as he started to sweat. Undoing his tie and loosening the top button of his shirt, the thought of Audrey finding out hit him like a rock.

  “Oh, God. What will Audrey think? How will she react to this situation? How is she going to deal with me having a child when hers is dead?”

  He shut down his computer and picked up his briefcase as he headed out early.

  “Tina, I’m calling it early today. I’ll look over the software improvements tomorrow. Take a message if anyone calls.”

  “Is everything okay Mr. Wetzel?” Tina asked, hoping he would tell her what the court papers were all about.

  “Everything’s fine,” he lied.

  He hopped on the elevator and headed out to his truck where he safely tucked his briefcase under the bench seat. After locking up his truck, he walked out of the parking garage, out to the curb and flagged down a cab. This was another one of those days where he needed a stiff drink and a quiet place to think. As the cab pulled up to the bar, he paid his cab fare; briskly walking into the bar out of the punishing, cold Kansas City wind.

  Sitting at the bar drinking a Scotch, he realized that he wished he would’ve brought those court papers with him instead of stowing them away under his seat in the truck. He wanted to re-read them to try to understand more about his ex and his daughter. As he sat in his chair, he saw Audrey was trying to call him. He let her call go to voicemail rather than sending it to voicemail. When he didn’t answer, she sent him a text an hour later, asking what he was doing. No reply. Throwing back one Scotch after another, he was sloshed within a few hours. The bartender finally cut him off and called a cab to pick him up.

  His head pounded when he woke up the next morning. He’d passed out on his bed, still clothed.

  “Oh,” he said rolling onto his back. “Geez,” he whispered glancing at his watch. It was almost 9 AM. Normally he was at work at least an hour earlier. “Shit, Tina’s going to wonder where I am.”

  Hastily, he got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Flipping on the switch, he spied his phone lying on the counter. As he stood there urinating, staring at his phone, he remembered Audrey trying to get a hold of him the night before while he’d been at the bar.

  “Shit, Audrey,” he whispered. “What in the hell did the bartender put in those drinks last night?”

  He turned on the shower to freshen up before work. As he stood in the steamy shower, he muttered to himself, “What have I done?” With weak knees, he began self-loathing. He couldn’t believe that he’d blown Audrey off all night; he called her on his way to work.

  “How come you’re going in so late?” she asked, seeing that it was almost 10 AM. “Aren’t you usually there around 8?”

  “Yeah, but I had an evening meeting last night. I saw that you tried calling, but I couldn’t answer it while I was on business,” he lied.

  “Oh, that’s okay. I understand, and I don’t expect you to answer every single time I call, you know.”

  Her understanding and acceptance made him feel sick that he’d lied to her. He punched his fist against his thighs in an attempt to release some of his frustration; he wanted to tell her the truth and be honest, but he feared it would hurt her. Plus, it might make him look like an asshole for not even knowing that he’d had a child for such a long period of time.

  They hung up as he was walking into his office building. He tried to uncloud his mind as he waited for the elevator; he had to focus on the new software developments. Throughout the day, his mind raced back and forth thinking about Christina and Kayla back to Audrey. He and Audrey had a great relationship going. The sex between them was incredible, and their chemistry was spectacular. He knew once they got back together that she was undeniably the one he let slip away and was glad to finally have her back. He felt like the scum of the earth for not being honest with her about the court papers, but he felt like he needed to become familiar
with the situation before dragging Audrey into it. He wanted to meet with Christina, and perhaps Kayla, before he mentioned anything to Audrey. It was imperative that he find out Christina’s plans before he did anything.

  Christina’s contact information was listed on the court documents. He decided to call her that evening. Finding out her plans and his options were crucial, and he couldn’t wait any longer. Part of him was excited that he had a child, and the other part was terrified that he had a kid—almost 9 years old—whom he didn’t know. He was very apprehensive about what she might think of him. When he got home that evening, he called Christina as soon as he kicked off his shoes.

  “Hello?” Christina answered the phone.

  “Hi, Christina, this is Chad,” he paused, letting her take control of the conversation.