Hiding from Mr. Billionaire

7 Hidden Away

Dread coursed through her veins.

She gasped and gripped the room divider for dear life to keep it from falling. Out of nowhere she herd the door open slowly and she hid herself away completely, holding her poofy skirt in with her twig-like arms. He lit a candle on and looked about the room furiously. "Funny," he mumbled to himself, "I thought someone was in here."

In the corner in of Vivian's eyes there was a mirror that showcased the Jasper's reflection in the mirror. Her heart leaped out of her chest when she realized she was in Jasper's room.

She watched as he looked wearily around the room. With one repressed sigh he took off his dress coat and threw it on his bed. Her eyes widened when she saw his hands pull at the bottoms of his tucked blouse. No, no, no! this is not how I wanted to see it before I ever married. She yelped quietly and turned away. There was nothing good to come from seeing a man naked before marriage. At least that was what her mother told her. This was not happening, Vivian told herself again, I've been raised well enough to have the decency in order to put up with this crap. Jasper groaned from his bedside that Vivian mistook for pain. When she turned and looked to see if he broke something; he was only stretching out his muscular arms.

The blood rushed to her cheeks when she saw him standing there in his half naked glory. She tried her best not to imagine anything; but it was hard not too. Backing away she almost knocked over a book by the study of economics. She held her breath and let out another quiet gasp, catching the large book in her small hands before it could make any sound. Her eyes flickered to the mirror to see Jasper's head snapped in her direction. 

She didn't dare swallow. Her heart stilled.

I'm going to die, she thought to herself, this is my punishment for refusing the suitors. I knew all this guilt my mother gave me wouldn't be for nothing!

As Jasper walked closer toward the corner of the room to where she was her heart sped up. The closer he got the more her heart beat rapidly against her rib cage. Her fingers trembled with sweat as she held the book in her hands. Vivian could hear her own dread now. It was as loud as a bird flapping it's wings against metal. If there ever were such a thing. Jasper looked her way intensely before shrugging it off and grabbing his dress coat.

She sighed to herself. Thank the lord.

Just then the door opened as Reuben walked into the room anxiously. Vivian took advantage of this distraction and put book back in it's original place. "Hey nephew, I was wondering what-"

"What the hell was that!"  Reuben seethed.

"Hell with what?" Jasper asked blankly. His face riddled with confusion.

Reuben walked over to the bed, "you pushed me with all those other young men. And then drew me into those heavy crowds that I told you I did not want to be in. You know how much I hate sharing my ideas openly," he said, leaning against the bed stand.

"So don't share them," Jasper mused, checking himself out in the mirror. "I was only trying to help you."

Reuben frowned. "You have have fooled me a few many times before; but that won't work on me this time, Jasper. You know how much I hate attention. You know how much saying too much does to a man."

"Then you best hope that business plan of yours fails cause you won't be getting any," Jasper told him sarcastically.

"Just because a man is good at doing something he loves doesn't mean he wants to be treated indifferently," Reuben stared at him with judgemental laced eyes. "And if you've paid any attention to me you would've seen that I was with somebody. I was just about to introduce her to you when you pulled me away for that crap!"

Jasper whipped around with a stern look on his face, his crooked nose pointing directly toward him like a gun. "Who?" he asked, walking slowly to Reuben with his head held high up. "Was it that Martin girl?"

"Yes," Reuben gulped.

"So, my assumptions were correct." Jasper's face was inches away from his now. His brown eyes darkening by the second. With a loud, stern voice, Jasper bellowed, "And why IN the WoRLD weRE yoU FRATernizing with a MArTIN?"

"Because I like her and she's very smart, educated," Reuben spoke with such passion in his voice, Vivian couldn't help herself but fall for it.

"EDucated?" Jasper's eyes widened with fury. "Puh," he made a noise, indicting his disgust. "Those are the types women you need to start staying away from!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Reuben spoke through gritted teeth.

Without warning Jasper pulled his right hand out and slapped both of Reuben's cheeks in a flash. "You bumpkin head, I was doing that for your own good."

Reuben held his reddened face in dismay, gawking. "You deliberately went out of your way to ignore her, didn't you?" 

"I don't need reiterations from a bumpkin head," Jasper scowled. "But yes that's exactly what I did, and I don't feel bad about it either!"

As Jasper's body language loosened up a little Reuben began to recollect himself.  "It's not all her father's fault," he said calmly. "She's just a girl, after all, there's no reason for her to get the bitter end of the-"

"Anyone who dares get the unfortunate duty of sharing that dirty bloodline of a baboon deserves none of my respect," he cut in coldly. "And by the end of the day, I'm cutting her father out of everything he has. He will have no money, and his family will live like the rodents they ought to be. So unless you want to date a penniless wrench, be my guest."  Clenching his jaw once more Jasper turned away and darted out of the room.