Bully Billionaire Read online

  Bully Billionaire

  Billionaire Bachelors, Volume 4

  Lexi Banks

  Published by DM, 2019.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  BULLY BILLIONAIRE

  First edition. May 19, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 Lexi Banks.

  ISBN: 978-1393179108

  Written by Lexi Banks.

  Also by Lexi Banks

  Billionaire Bachelors

  Secret Baby Billionaire

  Sugar Daddy Billionaire

  Best Friend Billionaire

  Bully Billionaire

  Baby Daddy Billionaire

  Christmas Billionaire

  Fake Marriage Billionaire

  Big Daddy Billionaire

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also By Lexi Banks

  Bully Billionaire (Billionaire Bachelors, #4)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Epilogue

  Further Reading: Baby Daddy Billionaire

  Also By Lexi Banks

  —Get My FREE Billionaire Book—

  Chapter One

  Baker

  I STEPPED OUT OF MY Lexus and handed the keys to a fresh-faced valet. I stared up at the glittering tower of steel and glass rising into the sky before me: the luxury hotel where my mom had been staying for the past six months.

  My stomach tightened, and I swallowed. The full realization of what this hotel represented sank in, despite everything else I’d dealt with since I’d moved back to San Francisco.

  The harsh reality was staring me in the face. Dad was dead, and Mom was moving on.

  I wasn’t even sure why it was bothering me so much. Dad had already been dead for six months, and I’d not escaped taking over the company, so it wasn’t like showing up to help Mom sell her things and our old house meant much.

  Yes, there were memories there, but I couldn’t say if they were even good memories anymore. A lot of things had changed since I left home, including me.

  I stepped into the lobby and headed toward the elevator. A trip up the elevator to the fourth floor and down the hallway brought me to Mom’s suite. She opened the door before I even knocked, as if she’d known. That’s a mother for you.

  My hand hung in the air. Mom smiled at me, no sign of surprise on her face at all.

  “Come in, Baker,” she said.

  I heaved a sigh and stepped inside. “Hey, Mom.”

  She pursed her lips. “You don’t seem all that happy to see me.”

  “Things are just busy—and I’m still not sure I agree with your plan.” I slid into a leather chair in front of the eighty-inch TV decorating the wall. I almost laughed. It’s not like Mom would ever waste time on something so pedestrian as watching television.

  “When I go into that house or even look at it,” Mom said, sitting in a chair nearby and folding her hands, “I feel nothing but pain. I miss your father more than you can know, which is why I think the best way for me to move on is to sell the house and everything inside.”

  “And then what? Are you serious about traveling the world? It’s like you’re trying to be some sort of college kid in their gap year.”

  “Yes, I’m very serious about it.” Mom frowned slightly. “Did you come straight from the airport?”

  “Yes. What about it?”

  “And did you eat on the plane?”

  “Yeah, a few hours ago.” I shrugged. I wasn’t sure why she cared so much all of a sudden.

  “That won’t do.” She stood and hurried to the closet. She threw it open and grabbed a long elegant dark coat. “We should get some lunch.”

  Sometimes I forgot that even though I was twenty-nine, Mom still thought of me as her son first and a man second.

  “I’m fine, Mom.”

  She shook a finger at me. “You might have taken over your father’s job as CEO of Evans International, but I’m still your mother and in charge of you. We’re going to get some food in you.”

  I chuckled. Sometimes the best strategy was to give in.

  TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES later, we were seated in a booth at a nice seafood place down the road. I didn’t know what it was about fish in San Francisco compared to fish in New York. They were both coastal cities, but the seafood tasted better out west. Maybe nostalgia is the best seasoning.

  We’d been discussing my mother’s plans and the process of selling the house in between taking bites of juicy salmon.

  “Why do you want to travel the world, Mom?” I said. “You already have. Maybe you should take up some sort of hobby instead.”

  Mom took a sip of wine. “I’ve not traveled the world.”

  I stared at her for a moment, confused. “Even when I was still living with you, we took at least two overseas trips a year, and that’s not counting the business trips we piggybacked on. When I left, it seemed like the pace only picked up.”

  “That wasn’t really traveling. Did we really see anything when we were on those trips?”

  “Uh, yeah, tons of things. I don’t get it. Do you honestly not remember?”

  Mom pointed at me. “It’s more that you don’t remember.”

  “Okay, now you’re confusing me.”

  “Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm,” Mom recited. “We’ve flown to so many places, but we’ve not really experienced them. A couple of weeks doing tourist things isn’t the same as experiencing the culture. What good is wealth if it can’t bring you new experiences?”

  I put down my fork as I thought that over. “I guess I’d never thought about it that way. Do you really think this will help you get over Dad?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And a really long cruise won’t do it?”

  Mom sighed. “No.”

  I reached over to pat her hand. “Then I’ll help you do everything you need so you don’t have to worry about anything when you’re traveling.”

  “Thank you, son.”

  I nodded and picked up my fork. No way I was letting the salmon go to waste.

  ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, after we finished, I waited outside the restaurant. Mom was freshening up in the ladies’ room, and I knew that I might be in for a few minutes’ wait.

  I took a few steps to the side. The whole neighborhood was a little bohemian for my taste, but the restaurant was good. Then again, sometimes it felt like all of San Francisco was a little too bohemian for my tastes, even with all the tech g
uys slowly transforming the city.

  A chuckle escaped my mouth. Adjacent to the restaurant was a hair salon of all things, The Wild Side. It looked decently upscale; not that I was an expert on women’s salons.

  I stood there, peering through the window, looking over at the chairs, bottles, and posters of beautiful women with equally beautiful hair.

  The door swung open, and a small dark-haired woman barreled out. Before I could even react, she slammed right into me.

  “Oof,” I said.

  I’m a tall man who works out, so it wasn’t like some petite woman was going to knock me over, but that didn’t stop the fire of annoyance that ignited. Still, I wasn’t the kind of guy who snapped at women.

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said, stepping back and throwing up her hands in front of her. “I totally wasn’t looking where I was going.”

  “No harm, no foul,” I said, offering her a broad smile.

  Now that I got a good look at her, I liked what I saw. Petite, curvy, gorgeous, long dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. Late twenties, probably around my age.

  My smile vanished. The woman could have been a dead ringer for someone I went to high school with, but who I hadn’t seen since then. Someone who probably still hated my guts for a good reason.

  The woman’s eyes widened, and she gasped and threw a hand over her mouth.

  Oh shit.

  “Uh, I thought I was—” I swallowed, and my heart kicked up.

  No. It couldn’t be.

  It had been over ten years since I’d last seen her. She was pretty in high school, but I loved the full curves and style of the alluring adult woman in front of me. Hell, my cock had already hardened a little at the thought of what it would be like to pull her tight black shirt off to get at the huge tits underneath.

  Shit. There was a little problem, though, if this woman was who I thought she was.

  “Chrissy Carter?” I said.

  “It is you, isn’t it, Baker? You’re a lot—whatever. How the hell did I manage to run into you, of all people? I haven’t even been back in town that long.” She sighed and looked down like her dog had just died. “Damn it. Why?”

  “Um, yeah, uh,” I began. Real smooth. “So how are you doing?”

  Chrissy turned and walked off with a snort.

  Yeah, this whole thing was going about as well as I expected. Maybe better. She hadn’t punched me in the face yet.

  I hurried after her and grabbed her arm. Chrissy spun, wild-eyed, and yanked her arm away from me.

  “Touch me again, Baker, and I swear to God, I’ll knee you in the balls,” she hissed. “This isn’t high school. You can’t terrorize me and then just have your parents call the headmaster and tell him, ‘Boys will be boys.’ You think you can push me around because you’re rich? The San Francisco police aren’t owned by the Evans family.”

  I averted my eyes. I’d forgotten half the crap I’d done to Chrissy in high school, and the half that I could remember made the assholes from Carrie look nice in comparison. Even if I wanted to try to be pissed about the way she was talking to me, I couldn’t. I deserved all that and more.

  “That was bullshit,” I said.

  “Bullshit?” She gritted her teeth. “I have a Taser in here. Just give me a reason to use it, asshole.”

  I raised my hands in front of me placatingly. “No, you’re not understanding me. What I did to you in high school was bullshit. I was a little punk, and I treated you—damn it. I don’t even know what to say but that I’m sorry. My behavior was totally unacceptable.”

  Chrissy snorted. “Oh, so, what? Now you’re a great man of the people? You regret everything?”

  I locked eyes with her. “You’re damn right I do.”

  She blinked several times, some of the anger draining out of her face. I could tell she’d been expecting more pushback from me, but why deny the truth? I had been a shit, and if some linebacker had kicked my ass in high school, it would have probably humbled me sooner and made me a better man.

  “Look,” I said. “I know I can’t begin to make up for everything with a simple apology, but, like you said, I’m a rich guy.” I shrugged. “Let me take you out someplace nice. Maybe tonight.”

  “You can’t buy my forgiveness,” Chrissy said, her voice icy.

  “I’m not trying to,” I said. “I’m just saying you get to go out and have some nice food on my dime. At the end, you can walk away, or even punch me in the face. Or Tase me. Whatever helps you sleep better at night.”

  She frowned. “How do I know this isn’t some sort of trick?”

  “If it is a trick, it’ll probably end with you kneeing me in the balls and Tasering me. You get a laugh, and I get what I deserve.”

  Chrissy watched me in silence, her jaw clenched, for a good thirty seconds or so. “Fine. Pick me up here at seven. I’ll have a place picked out by then.”

  “How about we exchange numbers? In case something goes wrong.”

  “There’s no way in hell you’re getting my phone number, Baker Evans. But I like the idea of wasting your money. I’ll see you at seven.” Chrissy spun on her heel and stormed off up the street.

  The tight black pants she wore clung to her nice ass. The sway of her ass and hips hypnotized me for a moment until I managed to shake my head. Talk about late bloomers. It wasn’t like she was ugly in high school, but now she looked damned gorgeous. Like model quality.

  I sucked in a breath, grateful my underwear and pants were keeping my hardening cock from being too obvious.

  I hadn’t asked Chrissy out on a date. I’d asked her out to apologize for treating her like shit years before. I needed to get myself in the appropriate headspace if I didn’t want her to throw a drink in my face later that night.

  “Oh, there you are,” Mom called from behind me. “I’m sorry it took so long. You wouldn’t believe the line.”

  I turned to face her.

  “Are you okay?” she said. “You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Just so you know, I have some plans tonight.”

  “It’s fine, son. It’s not like I expected you to be at my side twenty-four hours during this process.” She tilted her head. Mom always could see right into my soul. “What sort of plans?”

  “Oh, I just ran into an old—friend. We’re going to have drinks later.”

  Mom smiled. “Oh, that all sounds rather lovely.”

  Lovely. Yeah. I was sure it would turn out anything but.

  Chapter Two

  Chrissy

  I PACED IN THE BACKROOM of the salon, my heart pounding and my palms sweaty. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so worked up. Years probably.

  I hadn’t told anybody at the salon about running into my personal high-school torturer, but I didn’t think it would help. It would just be me bitching about some guy they’d never met. I hated it when my other coworkers did that, so I didn’t want to inflict the same thing on them, especially when I was the new girl.

  It’s not like any of them went to Hope Point Academy, and so they just wouldn’t get what a dick Baker had been, and even worse, how he’d been allowed to get away with almost everything because of his rich parents. Even worse, they might think I was overreacting or not believe some of the crap he’d gotten away with it.

  Yeah. I could still hardly believe some of the stunts he’d pulled. Heck, at one point, he had yanked my skirt down in front of a teacher and went on about my “fat ass” but only got a few minutes of the principal talking to him as punishment. Let alone things like his “trash” traps that dumped garbage on me, his constant harassment about how a “loser scholarship white trash” shouldn’t even be “polluting” his school.

  I gritted my teeth as memory after memory flooded back. It’s not like I’d spent my life thinking about high school. I’d moved on and done my best to not think about the painful times, but now that I’d run into him, it was like every memory that I’d stuffed into a little box i
n my mind was escaping.

  “No,” I said. “Baker Evans doesn’t get to own me anymore. This isn’t high school. He can’t do whatever he wants.”

  With a sigh, I stepped out of the backroom into the front of the salon. I did a final inspection to make sure there wasn’t anything else I needed to take care of before leaving for the day.

  I’d already locked up, cleaned up, and checked the inventory. The salon would be all set and ready to go tomorrow morning. I wasn’t sure I’d be the same after tonight’s dinner.

  The possibilities overwhelmed me. It could just be a boring and regular dinner, or it could be some sort of hellish reenactment of everything I’d gone through in high school. I definitely needed to make sure that I was in control all night.

  I groaned and held my head in my hands.

  Why the hell had I agreed to let Baker Evans take me somewhere? Maybe it was morbid curiosity, or I might, on some level, be hoping for a chance for a little revenge.

  The only thing I was sure of was that I didn’t buy his remorseful act for a second. He’d played the nice guy way too many times in high school before pulling another stunt. I’d learned that the hard way.

  People don’t change. Not really. They simply get better at hiding what they are.

  I stepped out of the salon and locked the doors. All day I’d been freaking out about going out with him, but I’d never thought much about where we might go.

  I glanced to the side. Screw it. Zephyr, the seafood place next door, was nice enough, and I didn’t want to end up far away from my car. There was a good chance the night would end with me screaming and slapping the smug bastard.

  “Chrissy,” someone called from behind me.

  I spun, my muscles tense. It was Baker. My stomach tightened, and my heart only sped up more.

  Pointing to the front door of Zephyr, I said, “We’re going there.”

  “I ate lunch there. It’s okay, but we could do better.”