In Bed With My Billionaire Boss

Adeline's POV

I devoted six years of my life to the only man I had ever loved, my ex-boyfriend, Chris Blackwood.

The diamond ring sparkled under the auditorium lights as Chris dropped to one knee in front of over five hundred people.

My heart stopped after six years together, he was finally proposing.

Then he turned away from me and faced Caroline.

"Caroline Hayes, will you marry me?"

The world shattered.

I stood three feet away, my graduation cap still in my hands, watching my boyfriend of six years propose to my best friend.

"YES!" Caroline screamed, throwing her arms around his neck.

The crowd erupted in applause like they were watching a romantic movie instead of my complete destruction.

I couldn't move or process what I was seeing.

"Wait." My voice came out broken. "Chris, what are you..."

He stood up with Caroline's hand in his, the ring glittering on her finger, and finally looked at me.

"Sorry, Adeline. You weren't supposed to see this yet. We were going to tell you after graduation."

"Tell me what?" Tears streamed down my face. "That you've been cheating on me? That everything was a lie?"

"Cheating?" Caroline laughed, actually laughed. "Oh sweetie, you can't cheat on someone you were never really with."

The crowd had gone silent now, everyone watching like this was better than the actual graduation ceremony.

"What are you talking about? We've been together for six years!"

"No." Chris stepped closer, his voice cold. "I've been using you for six years. There's a difference."

The words hit like a physical blow.

"Using me?"

"You had three jobs, Adeline. I had tuition to pay. Caroline and I needed someone to fund our education." He shrugged like it was obvious. "You were convenient."

My knees went weak. "You're lying."

"Am I?" Caroline pulled out her phone. "Want to see the photos? We've been together for three years. Every night you worked double shifts so Chris could 'study', he was in my bed."

She turned the screen toward me. Photo after photo. Chris and Caroline kissing on dates, in bed together. Time-stamped over three years.

"No." I shook my head. "You told me you loved me. You said after graduation we'd-"

"I said whatever I needed to say to keep you working." Chris's voice was brutal. "You were so desperate for love after your parents died that you'd believe anything. It was pathetic how easy you made it."

Someone in the crowd gasped.

"Don't bring my parents into this-"

"Why not? They're the reason you're so broken." Caroline stepped closer, her voice venomous. "Your parents died in that car crash trying to get away from you, didn't they? Taking a vacation to escape their disappointing daughter even your parents couldn't stand being around you."

The auditorium went dead silent.

"That's not true," I whispered, but my voice had no strength.

"Tell me, Adeline." Caroline's smile was cruel. "When was the last time anyone chose you? Your parents left. Your boyfriend used you. Your best friend betrayed you." She tilted her head. "Maybe the problem isn't us. Maybe the problem is you're fundamentally unlovable."

"That's enough." An older woman pushed through the crowd. "You've made your point."

"Have I?" Caroline looked at me. "Because I don't think Adeline understands yet that she's nothing. She's always been nothing. A charity case who worked dead-end jobs with zero future. Without us, she'd still be completely alone with nothing to live for."

"I gave you everything." My voice cracked. "I skipped meals so Chris could eat. I donated blood for money so you could buy textbooks. I worked myself to exhaustion..."

"And Chris used that blood money to take me to dinner at that Italian place you always wanted to try." Caroline's smile was vicious. "The pasta was delicious, by the way."

The crowd gasped again. Then someone laughed.

Then everyone was laughing.

"You're monsters." Tears poured down my face.

"We're realists." Chris put his arm around Caroline. "You should be thanking us, actually. We gave you purpose for six years because without us, you'd have had nothing to work for."

"I hate you." The words tore from my throat. "I hate both of you so much"

Before I could process anything, Caroline's hand cracked across my face. The slap echoed through the silent auditorium.

My cheek burned from the slap and I tasted blood where my teeth had cut my lip.

"You don't get to hate us." Caroline's voice was ice. "You don't get to feel anything except grateful. We gave you six years of thinking you mattered. That's more than you deserved."

She grabbed the microphone from the podium.

"Everyone, can I have your attention?" Her voice carried across the auditorium. "I just want to publicly thank Adeline Monroe for sponsoring mine and Chris's education these past six years. Without her working three jobs and donating blood for money, we wouldn't be standing here today as graduates and an engaged couple."

The crowd's laughter was deafening.

"So thank you, Adeline." Caroline's smile was radiant. "For being exactly as stupid and desperate as we needed you to be."

She handed the microphone back and turned away like I didn't exist anymore.

I stood there in front of five hundred people who'd watched my destruction like entertainment.

My phone buzzed.

Caroline: Your stuff is outside the apartment. We're changing the locks. Don't come back. And thanks for paying for the ring. It's exactly what I wanted.

Another text from the loan shark: You have only two weeks to pay your debt or you won't like what will happen to you.

Something inside me broke completely. I had borrowed money to sponsor these people. Now what did they repay me with? Betrayal.

I turned and ran, pushed through the crowd while they laughed and took videos on their phones.

I burst through the auditorium doors into the freezing night. I kept running until I couldn't breathe anymore. Until I collapsed against a brick wall in an alley, sobbing so hard I thought I'd break apart.

My parents were dead, Chris had used me for six years and Caroline had betrayed me.

And five hundred people had watched it happen and laughed. I had nothing, no one and nowhere to go.

I pulled out my phone to call someone, anyone, then realized I had no one to call.

Caroline had been my only friend. Chris had been my only family after my parents died.

I was completely alone. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't care.

My feet carried me through unfamiliar streets until a flickering neon sign caught my attention. 

BAR &LODGE.

I stared at it for a moment before pushing through the door and the smell of alcohol hit me immediately.

People laughed, music played and glass clinked. The world kept moving as if mine hadn't ended. I slid onto a stool at the bar.

"What can I get you?" one of the bartenders asked.

"Whiskey." He poured a glass which I emptied in one shallow.

The burn in my throat felt better than the ache in my chest.  One became three, three became five. The bartender ended up leaving four bottles on the table.

I noticed a guy not sitting far from me with five bottles of beer in front of him. He's on his sixth, and he's dead drunk already, but he's still pouring the beer down his throat, drowning himself in the intoxication.

The two bartenders were strong at him like he's some kind of movie as they shake their heads.

"Is it some kind of heartbreak? What could make a guy drink painfully like this?" One of them said.

"Look at that one too" the second one said while pointing his fingers at me.

"What the hell is wrong with them?" The bartender muttered, shaking his head.

"If they still order more after this, we can't sell it to them, they will die at this rate," the second one said.

I suddenly stood from my seat when I felt the need to pee, but I fell back on my seat immediately.

"Oh I feel so... so heavy...hmmm!" I moaned drunkenly, resting my palms on the table before trying to stand again. 

"I want to pee. Where's ...the...pee room?" I asked while holding the table for support.

"You mean restroom? Oh... that way" one of them pointed, and I waved at them drunkenly before going in the direction.

 The hallway seemed longer than it had a few minutes ago, or maybe that was the alcohol.

I bounced off the wall before finally finding the restroom. "Found you," I muttered proudly.

I pushed the door and stumbled in. The bright lights made me squint. Gripping the sink, I stared at my reflection.

My mascara was ruined, my eyes were red and my cheek was still swollen from Caroline's slap.

I looked pathetic and a broken laugh escaped my lips. "What a day." 

The door suddenly opened behind me and I frowned. Then another reflection appeared in the mirror. A man.

I was the same from the bar. The one who'd been trying to drink himself unconscious. For a second, we simply stared at each other.

His gaze shifted to the sign on the door and a curse slipped from his lips. "Wrong restroom."

For some reason, I laughed. A real laugh and his eyes returned to mine. For a moment, neither of us looked away. 

Just as he turned toward the door, something in me snapped. Maybe it was the alcohol, or it was hallucination. Or the realization that I had nobody left waiting for me.

"Wait." I said and he stopped to look at me. Our eyes met through the mirror. 

Neither of us spoke or ask questions. We were just two strangers carrying wounds too heavy to bear alone. 

Without myself the time to think, I crossed the distance between us. His gaze dropped briefly to my lips before returning to my eyes. Then I grabbed the front of his shirt, and kissed him.

His eyes widened slightly, and he froze in surprise. Then his hands slid around my waist and the kiss deepened.

For the first time that night, I wasn't thinking about Chris or Caroline. I wasn't thinking about the debt hanging over my head or the life that had fallen apart in a single evening.

I wasn't thinking at all. When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against mine.Neither of us asked for a name or wanted an explanation.

Tonight wasn't about tomorrow and it wasn't about consequences. But It was about forgetting.

His fingers intertwined with mine and he led me toward the door, I followed without hesitation.

Without knowing it, that single decision was about to change my life forever.