Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 27

*Shelby*

My eyes burned from all of the crying I had done the night before. I’d spent the whole day in my room, and I’d barely slept that night, worrying about how many magazines would have the picture of me and Michael on the cover the next day and thinking about my decision to leave.

I just hoped that I would be able to make it home before the media caught hold of the story. I wanted to be as far away from Lauren as possible when she got ahold of the picture.

I texted Lin, telling her to confirm the flight for the next day and wondered how I’d even get there. Flying commercial meant I couldn’t use the private airstrip.

Maybe Reggie will be able to help me. Or Brenna. Now more than ever, I wanted to escape this vacation.

I’d gone to the bathroom and started the shower, filling the room with steam, when I heard an urgent knocking on my door.

My heart sank, knowing Michael would never knock so frantically on my door; the only other person it could be was Lauren. She must have already seen the picture.

I turned off the shower and wrapped myself in my robe before taking my death march to the door. I swung it open to replace Lauren standing there with mascara-stained tears running down each of her cheeks.

“Shelby,” Lauren sobbed and cupped her mouth with one of her hands.

“Lauren, I am…” but before I could start apologizing, Lauren wrapped me in a hug and started crying into my shoulder. I stood there stunned and confused.

I figured Lauren had come up here to kick me out of her father’s house and end our friendship. After a few seconds, I wrapped my arms around her and patted her back.

“Lauren, what is going on?” I asked, still confused but selfishly relieved.

“I caught Todd with another woman last night!” Lauren gasped, her body shaking with sobs.

“Oh, Lauren,” I said in a sympathetic tone. I wanted to call Todd every horrible name I could think up, but I knew that wouldn’t help right now.

That came later in the breakup, as I was all too familiar with, because of Todd.

I pulled back from Lauren, and with my arm around her shoulder, led her to one of the small couches in the room’s sitting area. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to the maid, Brenna.

Shelby: SOS! Lauren is having a breakdown in my room. Could you have someone send up some coffee (for me) and tissues (for Lauren)?

Brenna: On it! I’ll be there soon. Hang in there.

“Who are you texting? I need your undivided attention right now!” Lauren said, shooting me a dirty look.

“I texted one of the maids; I am having her bring up some stuff for you,” I said, trying to stay calm at Lauren’s outburst at me. It was probably just because she was so upset.

“Oh, that’s fine, I guess.”

“Lauren, tell me what happened,” I said.

“Last night, Todd didn’t come back to our room. I was worried about him, so I started looking through the entire house for him. I could not replace him anywhere, so I went outside, figuring he might have gone for a walk on the beach to calm down after our fight.”

“What did you two fight about?

“Well, the first day we got here, I picked up his phone while he was in the shower, and he had a text from an unknown number. The text said I miss you.”

“Lauren, that could have been from someone in his family,” I said. I couldn’t believe I was standing up for Todd.

I knew exactly the kind of man he was, but seeing Lauren so upset made me want to protect her feelings.

“That’s what I figured until he got out of the shower. He saw me holding his phone and got super defensive about it. Last night, I brought it up again because we never actually got to the bottom of it because he distracted me by biting my…”

“Anyway!” I interrupted, not wanting to hear where that story was going to go.

“Anyway, we fought about it again last night. He told me I was being paranoid,” Lauren said with a big sniff.

Just in time, a knock sounded on my door, and I rushed to get it. Brenna carried in a tray with a pot of coffee, two mugs, some expensive-looking tissues, and a box of chocolates.

That Brenna was a smart one. I quietly thanked her, and she nodded, smiling at me as if to say, ‘good luck.’

I handed Lauren a tissue, and she dabbed at her dripping nose.

“I’m sorry. Look at me; I am a mess.”

“Don’t worry about it, Lauren; we can get you cleaned up after you feel better.”

I poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Lauren.

“What did you say when he told you, you were being paranoid?” I asked.

“I told him I had every right to be paranoid with the way he was acting, but then I took it too far and said I should have known he would cheat again.”

“What?!” I was about to take a sip of my own coffee, but I held it frozen in midair.

“Oh, he hasn’t cheated on me before,” Lauren said, not understanding why her statement shocked me.

“He had some girlfriend when we met, and it took him a while after we started sleeping together for him to end it finally. Anyway, so I went outside to look for him and found him rolling around in the sand with some girl.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said, and the edges of my vision turned red.

“I am serious; I was horrified. She wasn’t even that pretty! You could totally tell her boobs were fake.”

“No, Lauren, not that, you knew he had a girlfriend, and you hooked up with him anyway?”

“I am not the bad guy here; that slut on the beach is! Whose friend are you anyway!” Lauren said angrily.

“I thought you were my friend, Lauren.” The words were coming out of my mouth before I could stop them. “It was me that Todd was cheating on!” I yelled, letting the secret finally slip out.

Lauren stared at me in disbelief and then started laughing.

“Todd would never date someone like you,” she said, still giggling through her tears.

It seemed like she really thought I was telling a joke, but her responding by putting me down was infuriating.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Lauren? We dated for three years, so he must have been attracted to me at one point,” I said defensively.

“I know you are trying to cheer me up, Shelbs, but I need real advice right now, not just laughs.”

“I am not lying to you, Lauren,” I said and pulled out my phone, swiping through countless pictures of Todd and me when we were happy, or at least when I thought we were happy.

I showed Lauren a picture of Todd and me at a coffee shop in New York, and Todd was kissing me on the cheek.

“Oh, my God…”

“I told you, Lauren, we really did date for three years. Todd is a cheater. Trust me, I know breakups are hard, but you are going to be so much better off without him.”

“I never said anything about breaking up with him,” Lauren said. I was surprised that she was now the one being defensive.

“Lauren, you just caught him f*cking with another woman, and you are going to stay with him.”

“I am not leaving him for a little slip-up,” she responded. My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe that she considered cheating just a slip-up.

“I can’t believe Todd would stoop so low.” Lauren stood and looked out the windows after glancing at me with contempt.

“Exactly what I was saying. He isn’t worth it.” I said, relieved that Lauren was coming around.

“No, I can’t believe he stooped so low by dating you. He is completely out of your league.” Lauren turned to look at me; anger etched in her features.

“Ouch, Lauren. I know you are hurting, but I am just trying to help. You don’t have to take your anger at Todd out on me,” I said.

“Well, you’re not helping. You are a complete embarrassment. I don’t need a reminder of my fiance’s poor judgment hanging around. I think it would be best if you left. You’ve been such a bummer the whole time anyway.”

“Get out of my room,” I said in a low voice. It took everything I had not to scream at her. My hands were trembling with anger.

“Shelby, this is my dad’s house. You are the one who needs to leave,” she crossed her arms as though she was planning on waiting for me to pack my bags.

I stood up and glared daggers at her.

“Get the f*ck out of my room!”

“Fine, but I want you gone. I don’t want to see you ever again!” Lauren quickly made her way across the room.

“The feeling is mutual!” I shouted, and Lauren slammed the door closed.

The tears started flowing again. I’d cried on this trip more than I had in my entire college career, except for maybe when Todd had first cheated on me, and that was really saying something.

I was going to need some serious therapy for what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation.

I went back to the shower and let the water wash away the tears. I got out and was surprised that Lauren had not sent her mother upstairs to attempt to kick me out.

I threw on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Then, I wheeled my suitcase out of the closet, and I threw it onto my bed.

With a lack of energy, I shoved everything I had with me into the empty container haphazardly.

I took one last look around the beautiful bedroom and out at the amazing view of the ocean. It was a shame that I did not get to enjoy the balcony off of my bedroom.

This entire vacation ended up being more trouble than it was worth, except for Michael. I would have done it all over again, just to spend more time with him.

I slipped his two notes into my back pocket and held the little pink shell in my palm, not wanting to let go. Not wanting to let Michael go.

I set the little pink shell back on the nightstand.

I hoped he would replace it and know what he had meant to me on this trip.