The Billionaire's Contract : The Billionaires Club

Chapter 1

”Fuck.” I tossed my phone down on the desk and grabbed a set of keys off the hook on the wall. That was the third driver to call in sick today. Tony and Blake were able to cover a couple of jobs, but Larry left us a driver short. I already had big enough shoes to fill, taking over my father”s limousine rental, without letting clients down.

And no one let this client down.

”I”ll take this one myself,” I said to Opal, my office assistant.

She brushed bright pink hair off her forehead and eyed me. ”You sure? Mr Ellison is used to Larry.”

”Mr Ellison will have to make do,” I said. ”Unless he wants to catch this nasty cold that”s going around.” Under no circumstances would I let my drivers drive when they were that sick, contagious or not.

”Good luck then.” Opal smiled.

I snatched up my phone. ”Thanks, I”m going to need it.”

I stepped out the rear door of the office, into the parking garage. Three limousines, two white and one black, were parked beside a stretch hummer, also black. All four vehicles were in pristine condition, immaculately clean inside and out. Our clients expected nothing less. Neither did I.

I pressed the button on the wall beside the door. The garage door clanged and slowly rose, revealing the side street outside the building. The only vehicles to use it were delivery vans, my cars and anyone who was lost.

I climbed into the driver”s seat of the black limo and turned on the radio. I”d driven for Dad on and off for years before his retirement, but not since I took over Pearson”s Luxury Limousines.

I didn”t mind getting my hands dirty, but my skills were in organisation. Invoices and payroll, paying bills and keeping rosters straight.

This was a last resort I was only taking because I had no choice. This particular client was known for being difficult. He may decide to terminate our contract because Larry wasn”t his driver today.

”Fucking billionaires,” I muttered under my breath. Give me a good wedding. I”d take a joyful event over a grumpy businessman any day. WhiteWedding, pumping through the speakers, agreed with me. I ignored the fact Money, Money, Money directly followed it.

I backed the limo out of the parking space and onto the road. Parkview Tower was only a handful of blocks away, a few minutes, even in heavy traffic. Today”s was mercifully light. I made it there by the start of the fourth song.

I pulled into the pickup area in front of the main doors and texted His Ridiculously Richness to let him know his chariot awaited.

No less than five minutes later, Gabriel Ellison stepped out of the front of the building, a laptop bag under one arm, oversized travel mug in his opposite hand. He wore a dark, navy suit, perfectly tailored and as immaculate as my vehicles. He looked like he hadn”t shaved for a couple of days, but his blue eyes were sharp.

I hopped out to open the door to the back of the limo to let him slip inside.

He stopped a couple of metres away. ”You”re not Larry.”

By some miracle, I managed to contain an eye roll.

”I”m Lexie.” If he was a member of a wedding party, I would have smiled. Men like him preferred discretion. People should blend into the background in his presence, or some shit like that. ”Larry is sick.”

Gabriel looked at me like he wasn”t sure if he should get into the back of the limo or call for an Uber. Eventually, he tossed his laptop into the back and slipped inside. He didn”t so much as look at me as I closed the door and stepped back to the driver”s seat.

Before I could start the engine, he tapped on the privacy screen between us. I pressed the button to lower it and swivelled around in my seat.

”Do you know where we”re going?” he all but barked at me.

”Yes, sir.” I recited the address booked into the system. ”Unless there”s been a change of plans?”

”No change.” He sat back and sipped his coffee. Half a second later he said, ”What are you waiting for then?”

For you to get some manners?I thought. ”Nothing,” I said cheerfully. I pressed the button to raise the privacy screen again and started the engine.

I pulled the vehicle back onto the road and drove several blocks to the second location. The moment I pulled up in front, my passenger tapped on the privacy screen again.

I lowered it and swivelled around again.

He spoke before I could. ”Change of plans. We have to pick up my mother.” He looked even less pleased than he already had, which was saying something. He gave me the address.

”Of course, sir,” I said politely. The address was practically on the other side of the CBD. Whatever, it was his money. As long as he paid, I”d drive him all day. I mean, drive him around in my vehicle. Even if I was interested in a client, it wouldn”t be Mr Grumpy Ass himself.

He thumped back against the seat and put his coffee cup to his lips. He tipped it back to take a drink. It must have been empty because he lowered it, looked at it in disgust and placed it in the cup holder.

I bit back a smile. I shouldn”t be amused by someone”s misfortune, especially when it involved caffeine.

”Is everything okay, sir—” I started.

”Don”t make me late, Lucy,” he warned.

”Lexie,” I corrected. I closed the privacy screen before he could respond further.

Asshole.

I made a mental note to pay Larry more for putting up with this jerk. A charge I”d happily pass on to Gabriel Ellison. He probably wouldn”t even notice the increase.

I peeled away from the curb again and went back into battle. The traffic in this part of the city was horrendous. Manoeuvring a tiny hatchback would be difficult, a limousine was a pain in the ass. Especially when people stopped to gawk as we passed.

I was always amused at the way they tried to look in through the windows, as if they weren”t tinted to protect the identity of my passengers. People could fuck in the back seat and no one would ever see. And they had, but you wouldn”t get stories about that from me. Ironclad NDAs were very much a thing in this business, but even so, I didn”t drive and tell.

Around half an hour later, I drew the limousine to a stop in front of one of the most exclusive apartment buildings in the city. People didn”t gawk here, they were used to the comings and goings of the obscenely rich and famous.

Speaking of such, Irena Ellison waited just inside the front doors. She stepped out with her chin raised like she owned the whole world and not just a big chunk of it.

From what I gathered, the Ellison family made their money in real estate, hotels and, more recently, media. They could have owned a fleet of limousines, but Gabriel”s father was a friend of my father, so he gave us the business to help out a friend.

I had no illusion Gabriel had any loyalty to me. We”d only met a couple of times and neither of those were recently. On both occasions, I”d done my best to avoid being noticed, but at the end of the day, it was entirely unnecessary. Gabriel only seemed to notice people when it suited him.

I hurried out to open the door for Irena, who ignored me completely as she sat beside her son. I closed the door behind her and wondered if we could get by without their business.

Since we couldn”t, I slipped back into my seat. As I clicked my seatbelt, my phone pinged with a text. I glanced at the screen to see a message from my passengers, with the address to take them.

Who said good manners were dead? Since they couldn”t see me, I squeezed in an eye roll and texted back to acknowledge the address.

Once again, I pulled out onto the road and headed back in the direction we”d come.

I hummed along to the radio, which I kept down low, and swerved to avoid a bus that pulled out straight in front of me.

”Asshat,” I grumbled under my breath.

I liked driving, but it would be a lot easier without other drivers on the road. Unfortunately, none of my vehicles were equipped with James Bond-style rocket launchers to clear the path in front of me. Some days, it was tempting to look up having those added, but I didn”t really want to go to jail, so I sucked it up and went on going.

I slowed to let a couple of food delivery riders pass in front of the vehicle. That looked like hard work and I knew they weren”t paid what they were worth. They certainly didn”t deserve to be hit by a limousine. Not to mention, the paperwork that would follow that would be a pain in the ass.

I found the address the Ellisons texted me, but it took another few minutes to find somewhere to park. Some areas in the city were not limousine friendly. I finally managed to find a spot and slid the vehicle into it. ”Smooth as butta” as Dad used to say.

Starting to feel like a Jack-in-the-Box, I hopped out to open the door.

Without giving me a glance, Irena slid out and stood waiting for her son. ”You really need to consider this, Gabe,” she was saying. ”It”s about time you found yourself a wife. Past time.” She clicked her tongue.

Gabriel glanced at me, his lips pressed in a tight line. ”Can we talk about this later, Mother?” he asked.

I averted my gaze like I wasn”t listening to anything they said. Gabriel Ellison”s love life was none of my business. He was good-looking, but his head was so far up his ass he probably hadn”t seen the sun in years. Not surprising, given his mother, but that was also none of my business.

”We can, and we will.” She swept away and headed inside the building.

”I”ll escort her inside, then I”ll be back,” Gabriel said with gritted teeth.

”Of course, sir.” I offered him a faint smile of sympathy for having an overbearing mother like his.

The look he gave me back was speculative, but before I could pin down the reason, he turned on the heels of his expensive, Italian shoes and followed his mother into the building.