Page 2 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
He and Octavia held each other’s gazes like it was a game of chicken. He was used to winning, and he had the feeling she was too.
“If I’m going to help you, I need to know everything. I can’t work without all the facts, however gruesome they might be.” That’s what her lips were saying, only he had a feeling she used secrets like collateral.
“I’m being straight.” As much as he was willing to be.
She held his gaze. “Fine, then I can’t help you.”
He stood. “Fine, then we can go.”
Bella took his hand. “You need her.”
“Then she needs to work with what I’ve given her. I was driving. I lost control. The car hit the curb and flipped. Sunny died. That’s it. That’s the story.” The only story he’d ever tell.
Octavia’s eyes slightly narrowed.
“That’s the story,” he repeated, punctuating each word. “Either work with it or don’t.”
Slowly, she stood, placing her hands flat on the desk. “If I’m blindsided—if you in any way hurt my company, I will ruin you. So, if this is the story—the real story—you’d better hope it’s the only one I ever hear.”
Straightening, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s get something else clear. It’s not like you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart. You work for me, and as long as I’m paying you, you won’t treat me like a toddler.”
The corners of her lips lifted, twisting her mouth into a snarl. “You might be used to special treatment from people who kiss your rump, but I’m not one of them.”
Just as he went to open his mouth, his sister laid her hand on his arm. “Malakai, stop.”
He looked down at her. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, and he softened. Instead of speaking, he took a deep breath and sat back down.
Octavia slowly lowered herself into her chair. “Now that that’s settled, here’s the plan. You’re going to date, fall in love, and get married. The perpetual bad boy is going to find the woman that tames him and captures his heart. It’s a proven formula for fixing an image.”
“Marriage?” That wasn’t part of any plan he could remember. “I can’t and I won’t marry anyone.”
“I thought you wanted to fix your image.” The pale-faced woman leaned back a fraction.
His sister palmed his arm. “Mal, it’s not just about you. Axel needs this too.”
Malakai sagged. His older brother, Axel, needed the restaurant. He’d lost his wife three years ago, leaving him a broken single dad to a four-month-old infant. He was just getting his life back together. If Malakai messed this up… “All right. We’ll do it your way.”
Octavia regarded him a moment. “Good. We start this slow. That’s what makes it believable. You enter rehab—”
“Rehab?” He looked from Octavia to Bella. Rehab, marriage…just how tangled was the web of lies going to be? “I—” He cut the sentence off. If he said he didn’t do drugs any longer, then who would the needles have belonged to? “Isn’t it a little late for that?”
“It’s never too late for rehab,” Octavia replied.
“Okay.” He slouched down in the seat, wishing he could be anywhere, doing anything but listening to this woman dictate his life for the foreseeable future.
Octavia continued. “You do your ninety days, and when you come out, you issue a public apology. No drugs, no anger, no justifying your behavior. Just a straight-up apology.” She looked over at the other woman. The woman he’d completely forgotten was there. “Have you got all of that down?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The tiny woman reminded him of those mice in Australia. The kind that always looked afraid.
Returning her attention to Malakai, Octavia said, “After that, we’ll wait a few weeks, and then you’ll meet someone. Timing is everything. We have to stick to the schedule.”
From there, her voice became nothing more than static. Keeping Sunny’s secret, helping his brother, and now stooping so low as to fake a relationship to stay in a group that had practiced in his garage as middle schoolers. And people wondered why he was angry all the time, tore up hotel rooms, and acted like he didn’t care what anyone thought? His life was in chaos. How was he supposed to react? All the money in the world, and happiness was nowhere within reach.
“Malakai?” His sister’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “They’re asking you which rehab facility you’d like use.”
Octavia’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at it. As she stood, she grabbed it and walked to the door Charlotte had entered through earlier. “I have to take this. Charlotte can go through the facility options with you.” With that, she left.
Malakai sat forward with his elbows on his knees, raking his hand through his hair, waiting for Charlotte to speak. When minute after minute went by without her speaking, his patience grew thin. “Well? Can we get this over with so I can go?”
