Free Blind Girl: A Dark Billionaire Romance by Tabatha Kiss

says. “I couldn’t see them that well before.”
    “Well, you were blindfolded,” I point out.
    “Oh yeah…”
    I take the phone from her and scroll a little more through his bio. “He has an office in the city,” I read. “Just down the street from the hotel.”
    “You should go surprise him!” she shouts.
    “No.” I shake my head.
    “I did that to Ian last week and we totally had sex in his office. I bet Charles would love that.”
    “Maybe some other time.” I give her back the phone. “I don’t even know if he wants to see me again.”
    “Why don’t you text him and find out?”
    “I don’t have his number.”
    She pauses. “He hasn’t given you his number?”
    I turn to face her. “There’s something wrong with this, isn’t there?” I ask.
    Her face hops back and forth between sympathy and confusion. “Well… I mean… it’s not normal , I guess.”
    “Ian said Charles doesn’t pursue the same girl twice,” I say. “If I’m that special, why is he treating me like every other girl and leaving me behind in hotel rooms?”
    Gabby shrugs. “Who knows?”
    “What the hell am I doing, Gabby?” I ask her, clinging to an awful desperation.
    “Well, he’s nice to you, right?” she asks. “You know, during …”
    “Yes. He’s really nice. We seem to get along together well enough. But then…” I furrow my brow, “the feeling passes and one of us sneaks out while the other isn’t looking.”
    “Maybe you’re thinking about this too much,” she suggests.
    “Or maybe he just doesn’t want me around the way Ian wants you around.”
    “I guess you won’t know until you ask him,” she says.
    “I can’t do that,” I say. We continue walking towards the dorm. “He’s too old for this kind of drama. I need to rise to his level and stop thinking like an idiot teenager.”
    “You are an idiot teenager,” Gabby quips. “And I think a man that makes a habit of bedding college girls should get used to it. If he doesn’t like it, he should date women his own age.”
    “Yikes,” I laugh.
    “Well, it’s true.”
    “And how does Ian fair with all of your bullshit teenage drama?” I ask.
    She smiles. “He finds it charming, of course.”
    “Of course, he does,” I murmur under my breath.
    “Fuck you. I’m adorable.”
    I smile at her. “I know. I’m just… projecting.”
    “Alice, you have to put your foot down,” she urges. “If you want to be treated like a queen, you have to demand it. He’ll get it together if he knows what’s good for him.”
    “Maybe.”
    She sighs. “Do you want me to get Ian to beat him up for you?”
    I roll my eyes. She’s saying it to make me feel better. It’s working, a little. “No, thanks,” I say with a small laugh. “I think I’ll just wait it out. Who knows? Maybe he won’t even contact me again and I can just get on with my life.”
    “Boo. You’re no fun.”
    I take a sip of my coffee, which has unfortunately gone cold. “Or maybe I should just enjoy what I have, you know? How many girls can say they’re sleeping with a billionaire that buys them fancy clothes and lets them use their personal driver to get around town?”
    Gabby leans in and throws her arm around my shoulder. “That’s the spirit!” she shouts. “God — don’t you just love rich people?”
    “I guess it could be worse.”
    “It could definitely be worse.”
    “I think I like him, Gabby,” I say.
    “I think you do, too, Alice,” she says.
    I take the last sip of cold coffee before tossing into a trash can.

Chapter 6
    You Have to Demand It
     
    I decide to take Gabby’s advice and surprise Charles in his office. After my last class of the day, I rush back to the dorm to get changed. It’s Thursday afternoon. Harvey told me that Charles would be back in his office today.
    I enlist Gabby’s help in getting ready to surprise him. She lends me a tight, black skirt with a slit that travels halfway up my thigh and matching blouse, one with