Billionaire Rivals

Part 5

He had a warm expression on his face, examining my dress with his bright gray eyes. His hands were in his Armani suit pockets, and as we made eye contact, a genuine smile appeared on his face.

"Stasia you look absolutely gorgeous," his eyes were wide open and he looked taken aback.

"You don't look too bad yourself Kingston," I said with a smile.

"Anastasia Forbes giving me a compliment? Never saw this coming!" He joking said with sarcasm. "I have a car waiting downstairs, let's go."

"Is it your driver Samir?" I asked eagerly.

"You remember Samir?"

"Of course I remember Samir, whenever you wanted to skip school, sneak out, go to parties, he was the guy you called."

"I seriously can't believe you remember him." He said with a laugh. "All I remember is us fighting over whose driver is better."

"Hey Rufus is no less than Samir"

"Yeah, you made him your bitch at 16"

We went to a high class Mediterranean restaurant under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a perfect view of the city.

"Do you remember summer of 07'?"

"The one where you and your cousin Ares pushed my sister and I into the pool and nearly made us drown?"

"Hey first of all both you and Amber pushed us down the big hill behind our house, we could have died!"

"Oh come on Kingston, you hardly got hurt, don't be such a pussy."

"Pussy? Please as far as I remember you were the one that was too afraid to learn how to swim, and no the incident you mentioned happened in 05'. I'm talking about the time where our grandparents hosted the huge charity gala right after the White Party. You tackled Governor Smith's daughter for saying Yale was better than Harvard?" 

"Ugh I can't forget even if I wanted to. You're telling me the middle of nowhere New Haven is better than Cambridge? Melissa was delusional from the beginning." It's something I'm very passionate about, and some may even call me a little snobby since the margin is quite small between the schools, but I simply don't care. 

He gives me an amused and genuine smile showing all his pearly whites, and I hold my breath. He really did look very different than when I last saw him at 17. I remind myself that he may have gotten hotter, but he was still the same ego-centric jerk he's always been. 

"Yeah well, Melissa is my girlfriend now, I'm going to propose to her at the Spring Fling Gala, Stasia." 

I shouldn't have been taken aback, but I was. Spencer had told me earlier that he had come back with a girlfriend. I looked at him to see if there was any signs that he was just joking, but he really wasn't.  I want to say "Really Nicholas? Melissa?" But instead, I give him my best poker face, and say, "That's great, Nicholas. I never thought you would be the type to want to settle down. But really, did Melissa get in an accident, have amnesia possibly? I can't fathom the fact she would ever want to date someone as...." I catch myself before I blatantly insult him. 

He raises his eyebrow, clearly intrigued at what I was going to say. Almost challenging me to say it. "As what Anastasia?"

I need to choose my words carefully. "As unique as you, Nicholas." I give him a demeaning smile.

He gives me a dark look. "Well, it's more a marriage of convenience if I do say so myself." He says as he dips his bread in in the seasoned oil. "Her father reached out to me and offered 20% of their assets, for my hand in marriage. I wasn't exactly amused about the situation when I found out my parents had gone behind my back and signed the contract he presented them, without my permission."

This surprises me. Nicholas seems like the type to marry for money and power, but his parents? I wouldn't have imagined it ever.  Both of his mother and father have a very successful marriage, and I wouldn't expect them to do something like this. I suddenly catch myself overthinking his relationship with Melissa. I shouldn't care. I don't. 

" Nicholas, why are you telling me this information? You know I couldn't give two shits about your relationship with Melissa Smith,  and quite frankly I would appreciate it if you cut the small talk." 

" Anastasia, with all the years you know me- you should know this one thing about me. I fucking hate small talk. The reason I'm telling you about Melissa in the first place is that I hope to be doing business with you in the near future, I also hope to engage to Melissa publicly- and with that there will be unwanted publicity. It's best you have a heads up."

That truly sounds like the most bullshit reason, I've heard anyone ever say, but I keep quiet and  nod along. Before I can respond, theres a friendly tap on my shoulder. 

"Anastasia! Oh my god, what a pleasant surprise to see you here!" It's my older sister Amber and her fiancé Emmett. Emmett and Amber have been best friends since middle school, and they were "just friends" up until 18 months ago when he admitted he's been in love with her since the first time he's laid eyes on her, and Amber felt the same way. Their love is honestly really sweet, and since Emmett has been in Amber's life since forever, he has a really good relationship with the rest of the family. I remember I used to tell people that Emmett is my older brother. If there was anyone I wanted Amber to marry, it has to be Emmett. Amber suddenly looks at who I'm having dinner with and her eyes go wide. Giving me a look that read "no fucking way...this has to be a dream." Emmett knows my hatred for Nicholas too, and gives me a sly smile. 

"Amber, Emmett, I'm sure you remember Nicholas Kingston, Kingston Corporation." 

"Of course, what a pleasure to see you again Nick, it's been too long" exclaimed Amber, as Emmett shakes his hand. 

"So you're back home for business?" asked Emmett.

" No I'm back in the city for good." says Nicholas and then turns his head towards me and gives me a sinister smile. 

"Well thats great to hear! Well since you'll be around, Emmett and I would love to invite you to our annual spring party."

WHAT? Why is she inviting the devil to a party thats supposed to be fun and classy? I suddenly turn my head and give my sister the look. But she continues to ignore me. 

"Well, that would be lovely. I would be happy to be there." He says with a big fat smile on his face. 

Oh no, I can already tell this will go very very terribly.