Blackmailed by the Billionaire

Chapter 7

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up."

-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman,  Vol 9: The Kindly Ones.

One month and seventeen days. That's how long it's been since I've spoken to Damien. Heck, I could even tell you the number of minutes and seconds it's been too. Nevertheless, I had been keeping myself pretty occupied.

Anything that could just make me stop thinking about him.

I looked at the magazine perched upon my bed and flicked it open to reveal a picture of Damien in a suit with a blonde woman beside him dressed in a bright red dress. The heading of the article was 'Damien's back with his playboy ways or is it serious?'. I could feel my throat instantly turn dry and I scrunched up the magazine before getting my towel and heading towards the shower.

"Tee! Your phone just rang, I answered it and it was Ash, he wanted to know if you were up for coffee later, I already said yes for you so thank me later", she shouted to me through the bathroom door as I was taking a shower.

Turns out that the guy at the club was actually a really nice person and he had his coffee shop which we usually met up at. We weren't anything serious, just friends... for now. I thanked Kristen before hopping out of the shower and deciding what outfit I was going to wear.

I picked out a grey tight maxi skirt with a white vest top and teamed it with my low rise white converse. I did my hair in two French plaits and kept my makeup simple which consisted of a bit of concealer, some lip gloss and mascara. It was way too hot for a full face of makeup. I grabbed my black handbag and said my goodbye to Kristen before I left the apartment and hailed a cab to Ash's coffee shop.

The ride to the café was short and before I knew it I had arrived and gave the cab driver his money. I stepped outside the door and walked into the café and stood in the line that currently had around 7 people stood waiting for them turn to come. I checked my emails on my phone then it was soon my turn to order.

"Can I have a hazelnut latte please, skimmed milk and one sugar. Can I have a cheese and onion sandwich please with a packet of crisps. Oh! Also, one slice of your amazing carrot cake please", I told the man behind the till. I was starving! I didn't even eat last night as I was too busy working overtime that I was too tired to even eat.

"Yeah that's fine, that will be £5.00 then please" he replied. I opened my purse and just as I was about to hand the man the money. A hand touched my waist and I turned around to see Ash.

"No Tim! It's on the house for her, or whenever she comes, she definitely will not be paying for our food or drinks", he said sternly before sending a wink my way.

"Don't be ridiculous Ash! I want to pay, you don't need to be so generous all the time" I scolded.

He simply shook his head towards me before picking up my tray which had my order upon it and steered me towards an empty table which was situated in the corner of the place. I took a sip of my latte and nearly moaned at how delicious it was.

"How have you been then lately?", he asked me.

"Yeah, I've been fine. What about yourself?" I replied whilst taking another sip of my drink.

"The café has been doing really well recently, I've partnered up with this company, and I supply them with their coffees and snacks and in return I get a generous amount of money a week for doing so, so hopefully if sales continue this good then I'll be able to expand the café and be able to open in other parts of the country", he grinned.