“No,” I said softly. “No, that's not what happened.” I kind of didn't know where to start.
“So he straight up told you he didn't sleep with her,” she stated.
“Tessa, I- Let me start from the beginning.” I wasn't sure whether to start with Ryan getting handsy with me last night or the concert that Audrey got pregnant at.
Unfortunately, I must have hesitated too long. “So now you're going to defend him too?”
“Tessa!” I yelled into the phone, annoyed.
She must have known that I meant business at this point. “I'm listening.”
I inhaled sharply. “James admitted to me last night that he did sleep with Audrey while she was still with her boyfriend, but it was over a year ago. His band mate Ryan-”
“Oh, so he's just going to throw his buddy under the bus, and you're going to believe him immediately.”
I paused, unsure of what to say. “Tessa, you seem to be taking this awfully personally.”
“Well, he has a long history of manipulating women. And if you could ignore your schoolgirl crush on him for one minute, you might see that he's pulling the wool over your eyes, too. I've got better things to do than to hear another story about Billionaire James the saint. I'll chat you up later.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. “Okay. Bye.” The line was already dead.
I looked down at my phone, not sure I could understand or believe what just happened. Had my best friend just hung up on me over this? I thought about my pregnancy test, how I hadn't had a chance to tell her about it. I hadn't had a chance to tell her anything, really. It was unsettling to say the least. I wondered what happened to her.
I didn't have a lot of time to think about that. I was already almost back to James' apartment.
Chapter Five
The doorman let me in with no problems. I was worried that that might be an issue, but apparently I wasn't barred from the premises. I walked in and went to the elevator, trying to think of what I would say when I saw him. Would I say that I was sorry? Would I tell him right away that I was pregnant, and that was why I was emotional? I wouldn't know until I saw him.
He had left the door to his apartment unlocked. I heard music faintly, but as soon as the door opened I heard the sound of him wailing on the guitar. It was chaotic, with no rhyme or reason to it. Every few seconds I recognized a chord or something that sounded like it was from a song I knew, but just as soon as I did, it would be gone.
I kicked off my shoes by the door and walked toward the sound, my fingers on my ears for the last few feet before I appeared in the doorway. James had put nothing on but pajama pants since I last saw him. As soon as he saw me, he stopped playing. The electric guitar twanged silent but the reverb on the amp lasted just a few seconds longer.
I stood there for a moment, still unsure of what to say. I didn't know if he read something in my face or what, but suddenly he broke out into that cocky grin of his. “I forgive you.”
I couldn't help but break into a smile but I looked away as I did so. “I can't stay mad at you, either.”
He released his grip on his guitar. “I haven't done it yet, because I wanted you to think about how it would look, but I'll tell Nicole that I have no interest in her if it makes you happy.”
I thought about it. It would definitely be one less source of stress in my life. I hated the thought of going back to my dorm and looking over at her, knowing that she was trying to chat up James and seduce him. Still, he was right that it would look weird for him to break it off with her.
“Let's not talk about that right now. What did you have planned for today?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Nothing. I took the entire day off to be with you.”
I laughed. “I'm impressed. Your time must be worth a lot.”
“'A lot' doesn't even begin to cover it,” he said. “But, I guess I can give you the 'friends and family' rate. A mere ten thousand dollars an hour.”
I laughed at that, but considering that he made something like a billion dollars in the last three years, that might be close to the truth. A hundred hours a week, a hundred fifty weeks... I wasn't very good at math but even I could see that his time was a lot more valuable than my temper tantrum.
“I didn't bring much cash, can we come to some kind of an arrangement?” I asked, batting my eyelashes in an over-the-top fashion.
I watched his eyes do a once-over on my body. He started walking toward me, then stopped himself when he realized his guitar was still attached to his body and he was still hooked up to the amp. He stopped, then beckoned to me. “Come here,” he said. I walked up as he pulled the guitar strap from over his neck. “Have you ever played the guita
r before?”
I shook my head. He smiled and help up the guitar strap, gesturing for me to stand where he had been. As I stood there, he slipped the strap over my head, adjusting it to fit me better.