The Billionaires(#1)

66

Twenty-eight years ago she had been brought into this miserable world. A world filled with so many inevitabilities; love, hatred, failures, riches, disloyalty, treachery, abuse, defeat, deceit – a whole lot of pointless things. But none of that mattered; she had seen it all, she had been through it all, and yet, here she stood, not even a single scratch on her face or as little as a single tear burning in her hollow eyes. But still, none of that mattered.

This was how she had always spent her birthdays, whether it was in New York, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Cape Town or London; it was the same thing every night before the clock hit midnight and her birthday was over. She would either be in her office or her house, watching the stars or the black night sky like she was doing right now.

She stood on the rooftop of The Maslow Hotel, staring at the sky while counting the stars, something she was well accustomed to now. She would count the stars while following a certain pattern until she lost count somewhere and had to start over again until it was midnight and the day was over. However, the day was far from over; her mind was fogged with uncertainty and confusion that she could barely reach ten before starting over again.

Her mind kept drifting to what was happening downstairs. She was aware of the event before it even started. She had watched the cars pile into the street and the masked guests fill the hotel in their overpriced gowns and tuxedos, and she could hear bits and pieces of what was being said and done down there, but she still did not care. At least that was what she told herself until she heard Shannon's voice singing her favourite song, and that is when she started to take note of her surrounding environment; she could fill the chilly air biting at her skin, and suddenly the short red dress and her white heels seemed like a bad idea.

She was suddenly aware of where she was as her eyes raked over the lights glistering against the darkness, and she realized that everything was fine. Everything was as it should be; the night was quiet, chilled, and peaceful.

Until she heard Shannon singing.

She swallowed hard as the realization hit her and her heart started to hammer against her ribcage. This song brought back old memories – memories she had tried to block and only one person knew because he was the memory.

The first thought that came to mind was running back into the hotel and locking herself in her suite until tomorrow when she was sure all the guests had left, but her feet could not move fast enough because she had barely made a move to turn around when she felt another presence behind her and she stilled.

“Can I have this dance?” A voice whispered in her ear, and she closed her eyes.

“May?” Logan called out.

She opened her eyes and slowly turned around to face him, her eyes an array of emotions she could not decipher, catching only on a few; contempt, misery, nostalgia.

Logan squeezed her hand and gave her a slight nod, and with that, MJ masked her true emotions leaving nothing but a void. “I don’t think this is a good idea…” MJ whispered as if he could understand what she meant.

“I beg to differ.” Logan said and extended his hand to her. She looked at his hand in distrust. “Trust me.” He said and, she looked at his deep chocolate eyes, which seemed to be battling with emotions of their own.

MJ slowly reached for his hand, and he pulled her closer and wrapped one hand around her waist.

“How did you know?” She whispered as they carelessly moved to the fast beat of the song.

“It doesn’t matter.” Logan replied, his voice erratic, and for a moment, MJ wondered what they were talking about.

“But why?” She asked after a while and slipped out of her heels.

“Do you really want to know?” He asked, and before she could even gauge what he said, they were swiftly moving around the rooftop, the two of them dancing to the song, taking each beat and every word to the heart with every step they took and every touch they made as if they were little children battling for the first place in a talent show finals.

The song ended and they just stood there on the rooftop staring at each other while keeping a good distance between them. Logan watched her curiously, his heart beating erratically in his chest; he wanted to say so much but he did not know where to start. There had been so much tension between the two of them for the past few days; it was actually starting to eat at him.

“That night of the launch, you asked me who MJ Billings was to me.” He finally said and took MJ’s hand. They moved to the edge of the rooftop and stood in silence. “I met her in high school; I was a tutor there and she was doing her grade 10.” He said, and MJ closed her eyes at the memory. She and Logan had known each other long before that, but to her, he was just one of the douchebags her brother called friends. “MJ loved to dance; I could have sworn she was going to have a career in dance.” He chuckled. “I was on my way to the field when I heard someone crying in the dance studio, and then I discovered that it was her. She was crying because Jorge refused to be her partner.” Logan said quietly, staring into the distance.

The memory of that day was still fresh in MJ’s mind. As much as she would like to block it, it was hard to when he was standing next to her, reminiscing about it. It was on a Friday afternoon during lunchtime and she had to practice a routine for the school’s dance competition. She had asked Jorge to help her with a step she had been struggling with, but he refused and said she was dancing shit, and then asked her why she wanted to be the school’s ballerina.

She was scared of boys at the time and had no guts to ask any of them to be her partner. She had lost hope until Logan came along. "I offered to help her, but things took a turn when she put up a fight and insisted on dancing to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. I complained until I saw how good she was and how she could easily sway to the music.” He smiled sadly. “It was such a nice song really.” He admitted.

“And you fell in love with the song?” MJ asked, trying to get rid of the tension.

Logan turned around and looked at her. “I didn’t fall in love with the song.” He said and tilted his head. “I didn’t fall in love with the song.” He repeated, not breaking eye contact. “I fell in love with her.” He said quietly, and MJ tensed. They stood there quietly until the silence was broken by the sound of a helicopter floating right above their heads. It was Logan’s helicopter and he had no idea how it got here. “Damn you, Shannon.” Or maybe he did.

“What?” MJ shouted over the noise, but Logan only smiled at her and opened his hand for her.

“Someone told me that the night is still young and that I shouldn’t let it go to waste, and I don’t think you should either.” Logan said, and MJ looked at him sceptically. "What have you got to lose?" He asked, and she stared at his hand, debating what to do.

Finally making up her mind, she said, “Nothing. But you have a lot to lose and you know it. You are only setting yourself up for disaster; you are setting yourself up for heartbreak. I am not the same person anymore, Logan; you and I are two poles apart.” She said with a small smile. “Thank you for tonight; it was…it was different.” She said and turned to walk away, but Logan grabbed her wrist.

He did not know what to say to her, because he knew he would never win if he tried to change her mind. “Go out with me tomorrow.” He finally said, and MJ tried to pull out of his grip, but he held her tighter. “Let’s go somewhere far; somewhere we can talk without getting interrupted.” He said quietly.

MJ shook her head. “No.” She said firmly.

“We need to talk.” Logan gritted.

MJ turned around to face him, and Logan’s grip loosened around her wrist. MJ stared at his face for a few seconds and then she stepped away from him. “Goodnight, Logan.” She said and left him there, and just like that, their night ended.