Alpha Billionaire Series
Hot Mess Chapter 10

NICK

I threw jeans and sweats into a bag. I was going to be on set for five weeks, so I tossed in more tees. Working through Thanksgiving was fine by me. The crew in Canada didn't celebrate anyway. To them, it was just another Thursday.

A cold Thursday. I pulled out the heavy winter jeans, lined in fleece, and shoved them in.

It wasn't as if I had a family that wanted to see me for the holiday. Mom was on some beach or a cruise somewhere. She typically only called when I was late with her deposit. She sure as hell did.

I finished packing and rolled the case down the hall. I left it by the front door and turned into the depths of the house and headed toward Isaac's office.

"Is the car here?" He asked.

A small black case stood just inside his office door.

"Where are you going?"

He turned and gave me one of those once-overs looks. I had no idea what he was thinking. He could be judging me on anything from the obviousness of my statement to the stupidity of my question, to my choice in footwear. "With you."

"What? Why?"

"Because, Nick, we have business things to discuss. And you have been avoiding me all week. I have to nail you down and you can't get away from me on a small private jet." He had a decent point.

"But I need you here to keep my estate running."

I think he hurt himself snorting with laughter. "Estate. The house is nice but it's not an estate. Kerry knows how to take the trash out and bring the mail in when we aren't here."

I widened my eyes at him. My estate was much more than a piece of property, and he knew it.

"Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick. I can handle all the wealth management from a laptop and an internet connection. When have I ever let you down? I ran things from a beach in Malta for six weeks when you were shooting season one of Lions, and you never knew the difference."

I crossed my arms and glared at him. He had done what while I was in Morocco?

"Oops."

"Really? That's all you've got to say, oops? Mom has been hounding me for more money."

"And it's in everyone's best interest if she gets it. No worries. See, you aren't even all that mad at me," Isaac smirked.

"Of course, I'm mad at you. I had sand in my a*s crack for weeks on that shoot, and there wasn't a beach in sight."

"If it makes you feel any better, the beach was more pebbly than sandy."

"So, no sand in your ass on a beach in the Mediterranean? That actually doesn't help."

"Your assets increased six percent during that time frame. Happy now?"

"What would I do without you?"

His phone buzzed. He looked at it. "You'd miss your flight. The car's here."

I stepped back letting him grab his bag and leave the office ahead of me.

"It's a private jet. They aren't leaving without us."

"Details actor man. Details."

The ride to the airfield was a quiet one. Isaac focused on his phone the entire time. I gave up looking at my phone for entertainment. Kayla had never responded.

All of my text messages were marked as seen, but she never replied. If I picked up my phone, the first thing I would do is check those messages.

I could not get that woman out of my head. Quiet introspective times like this had visions of her ripe breasts and lush body in my mind. A woman hadn't haunted my thoughts the way Kayla was since I was a horny teenager.

The aircrew team took our bags as we boarded the small plane. I took my seat, and Isaac sat opposite me. We strapped in for the takeoff.

"This is so much better than flying commercial. I'm working for you forever."

I laughed. Early in my career, when it was important, I did not appear to be more than what I was, I traveled via commercial airlines. At my height, I was always crammed in, unless I was flying first class. Isaac was the one who convinced me that movie stars took private jets. And no one would bat an eyelash at me, they wouldn't know, how would they know?

"Would you like a drink before we take off Mr. Sadler?" the cabin attendant asked.

I shook my head.

"No, I'm good."

"Mr. Warner?"

Isaac shook his head. "I'm going to take a nap as soon as the captain says I don't have to be buckled in."

"You know you don't have to be buckled in, if you want to go lay down now, no one is going to stop you."

Isaac gave me another one of his looks. He'd tell me what stupid thing I had said eventually.

"Look, Nick. If the cabin crew is buckling up, I'm buckling up. They are kind of my hint as to the status of our safety." "Reasonable. I thought you wanted to talk to me about things?" The plane taxied onto the runway.

"I do. This flight is six hours at the very least. I can grab a nap and still have plenty of time to go over everything." "You know we can also talk it over once we get there."

The engine whirred louder, and I felt the weird sensation as the plane lifted off the ground.

"You are going to be on set once we get there, and busy. I'm turning around and going home to manage things."

I lifted my brows. I wanted to know what things. Other than my mother's deposits, I was curious what he had on his agenda.

The plane felt as if it had leveled off. At least the cabin attendant was up and moving around the front end of the plane.

Isaac snapped his belt off. He patted me on the shoulder as he stepped behind our chairs to a long sofa. "Don't worry about it Nick. We have time. It's a lot of the little annoying things I text you about that you are too busy to respond to."

He was lucky he was so good at his job. And that he was my friend. He could be an arrogant assistant. I shook my head. Personal manager, not assistant, was his preferred title.

Manager was right, he managed me.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until Isaac shook me awake. "You want something to eat Sleeping Beauty?"

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Sure, how long was I out for?"

Isaac shrugged. "You were snoring when I woke up. That was about forty-five minutes ago."

"Where are we?"

Isaac looked over at the cabin attendant. "Where are we?"

She smiled and said she would be right back with that information.

"We're over Lake Michigan, about to cross into Canadian airspace. You both slept through the refueling in Chicago."

"You didn't pick up pizza while we were there?"

"No, sir, we did not." she laughed. "Since you are headed back with us in the morning, I can make arrangements for pizza to be delivered to the airfield when we refuel."

"Nick, give this woman a raise." Isaac gestured in her direction. "And that is a yes. I need Chicago-style pizza tomorrow. What do we have for now?"

"You can have either a naked cordon bleu or a deli-style sandwich."

"I'll take a sandwich. Do you have roast beef?" I asked. Suddenly a sandwich sounded like the best thing ever. I hadn't had bread in weeks.

"I don't think so. You are not going to show up to start filming all puffy. You know why they hired you for this part, don't you?" Isaac cut in.

"I read for the part. I fit their vision." I gave him a generic industry answer.

"No, Nick. You have abs. You eat a deli roll, and you have bloat. You can have a sandwich when filming is done. He'll have the cordon bleu, but can you scrape the breading off?"

"I'll take care of that," she said. She went back into the plane's galley.

"What would you do without me?"

"Show up on set having happily eaten a deli sandwich." I let out a heavy breath. Isaac was right. The roles coming in were more for my physique than my acting skills. Captain Wonder was going to show the world that I could act. But until that was released, I had other projects and contractual obligations.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Isn't this nice?"

We had moved from our seats to the chairs at the table. The cabin attendant poured champagne into the flutes after having set steaming hot gourmet cuisine in front of us. The naked cordon bleu was essentially the exact same thing as a regular one, only not coated in panko breading.

I cut into my chicken. "Yes, this is lovely, you and I are eating microwaved chicken on a plane. You've kept me waiting for hours, Isaac. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Isaac put his knife and fork down with precise movements. He reached across the table and took my knife as if I was a threat. He could be so dramatic, but entertaining. "The studio has been contacting me about your companion issue."

Maybe taking the knife was a good call. I was getting really frustrated with all this talk about needing to be seen with the right woman at a few upcoming events.

"Fine, whatever. Pick someone. I give in." I threw my hands up in the air. The benefit of having the studio pick my date was there was little to no risk of falling into a complicated relationship. I didn't want to date some nineteen-year-old waif. "You gave in too easily. You've been fighting this for days."

"The studio wants to put me with someone they think I will look good with. If that's what they want, then fine. But if I do that then my ability to meet someone, I'm attracted to goes out the window because I'm off the market."

"You being off the market isn't going to stop women from throwing themselves at you."

"And I am not interested in a woman who would try to steal me from a relationship. Do you not see the problem there?"

Isaac nodded. "I do. What do you want me to do? Do you have someone you wouldn't mind being stuck with for some fake relationship to make the studio happy?"

"Yeah, I do." I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I pushed it across the table at him.

"Her." I jabbed my finger at the list of unanswered texts on my phone. "I want her."