Jackpot

Chapter 2

Zoe

I woke up in the morning all hungover and feeling pretty shitty. Two bottles of wine was too much. My almost thirty year old body could no longer handle this. 

Sam was still asleep on the sofa so I tiptoed to the shower. It was the longest shower in shower history. I think I might have fallen asleep in there for a couple of minutes. When I was finally scrubbed and cleaned and resembled a normal human being I got out and started slapping moisturiser on myself. Alcohol dehydrated the body and today I will do everything I can to rehydrate so I stop looking like a fifty year old prune.

I put on shorts and white t-shirt and dragged myself to the kitchen to start making a smoothly. I added ginger, lemon, spinach, avocado, apple and pear to the blender while checking my emails. I noticed an email from the lottery saying I won a prize. Great, I could use some money. I went on the app and checked my ticket from last night as I was about to press the blender button.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh" I screamed as I saw the results. At the same time I realised that I made a colossal mistake and didn't put a lid on the blender so my smoothy was all over me, my walls and my ceilings.

"What happened?" Sam sat upright looking very confused and worried.

"No way, no fucking way!" I kept looking at my phone screen. I was still asleep, there was no other explanation. Sam ran up to me and snatched the phone from me. It took her a couple of minutes to read it all and then she screamed and dropped my phone on the counter.

"Oh my god! Zoe!!!!" she grabbed my hands smiling from ear to ear. "You won the freaking jackpot! You are a millionaire!" she screamed hugging me.

When I heard Sam say it out loud I started to believe it. Fucking hell, I won the lottery! Me! Zoe Black just became a freaking millionaire! I stumbled back and sat down on the bar stool as the world started spinning.

Two weeks later...

What do I do now? I was looking at my phone at the number £168,990,997.07 showing in my newly opened bank account. I could literally do anything I wanted. But what do I want? What do I do now? How do I not loose myself and still enjoy this? I had no family to share this with since all of them were long gone. Sam had plenty of money so she didn't need any. I asked to remain anonymous winner as as soon as people know you have money they come crawling from every corner asking for handouts.

I contacted a financial advisor and told him to find three families per year who were struggling. I would pay off their mortgages to make their lives easier. But that still left me with a whole lot of cash and I read enough horror stories about lottery winers blowing it all away within a couple of years.

I made Sam swear that she wouldnt tell anyone about my winning. I wasn't sure what my life will be like right now and I didn't need all fake friends trying to take advantage of me. Sam and I ended up booking that luxury boutique hotel at Lake District. She was over the moon about it and we had our main group of friends meeting up there this weekend. After the final meeting with the lottery people and my financial advisor in London I took a cab to the nearest Range Rover showroom and bought myself a top of the range brand new Land Rover Range Rover. This was my crazy car as I also had my dream car Tesla model S on order as well. Dont judge me - I just won the lottery, I could buy a few luxury items.

I drove my new car down to Brighton and it was a dream to drive - smooth, super fast, comfy and the sound system was incredible. With tinted windows people couldn't see me as I zoomed past them. Did i mention that i was a bit of a speed junkie? 

The thought that I could literally do anything I wanted with my life was overwhelming so I decided to take it one day at a time unit I figure out what to do.

I spent most of the week taking long drives, looking at properties and spending time with Sam. As promised she didn't say anything to her boyfriend Luke so he treated me just the same. He was a lovely guy and he loved Sam to bits. When Friday came I loaded my car and went to pick up Sam and Luke.

"Wow, someone cashed in. Nice car Zoe" Luke said looking impressed.

"Thanks Luke, I decided to splurge on a new car" I smiled at him blushing. I was hoping he wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Thats some splurge - £100K+, am I right?" he asked laughing.

"Something like that" I blushed and looked away.

Luke loaded his and Sam's suitcases in the boot and they both got.

"Ok, I made us a perfect road trip playlist" Sam said excitedly connecting her phone to the sound system.

We took turns driving as the drive to Lake District was almost 8 hours long. Luke pushed the car to the max, he was like a kid behind the wheel.

"Damn, I love this car. I need to get me one of these" he said getting out when it was time to switch. Luke came from money just like Sam so they never had to worry about paying rent or anything. They both had good jobs and didn't mooch of their parents but they didn't know what it meant to worry about money. 

We were meeting our other friends Jocelyn and Sebastian and Tom and Suzan who were the loveliest, down to earth people I knew. Sam told me that she also invited some of her other friends who I didn't know. Just like Sam, John, Noah and Julie were also quite wealthy. I wasn't quite sure how I ended up amongst such rich people.

"Zoe, I've know John forever and believe me - he is a very good looking man!" Sam said looking very pleased with herself.

"Hey" Luke said annoyed from the back seat.

"Baby, you know you are the only one for me. But we said that we can appreciate good looking people. You told me that Zoe is gorgeous - do you see me getting jealous?" Sam smiled at him. Gosh, they were so sickly in love.

"Fine, I know. It's just that he is so, you know. It makes me feel like a weakling next to him" Luke pouted.

"How come I haven't met him yet?" I asked looking at Sam.

"Well he was in the royal navy so we haven't spent that much time with him. He is our childhood friend but after getting his business degree in Oxford he went to the marines. He retired about a year ago so we reached out to him. He is really nice guy, very down to earth, very handsome."

"But? come on Sam, spit it out" I said sighing. There was always a but. There was no perfect guy.

"Well, I heard that he was deployed to some rough places and that he came back different after that. He is still nice and all but a bit intense." 

"PTSD?" I asked.

"Something like that." Sam looked out the window. "I hope he gets better because he really is one of the good ones".

I was now intrigued by this John guy, how damaged could he be? More than me? I doubt it.