Tom Billionaire Ch. 04

Vivienne, on the other hand... "But _Tohm_..." she whined.

"Shh," I soothed, stepping forward. She was still wearing just a towel wrapped around her torso. The bottom of it didn't quite cover her entire ass, and as I pulled my girlfriend into a hug, I reached down and pinched a perky buttcheek. At the same time, I cupped her cheek with my left hand. And tilting my head, I closed my eyes and moved in for a sweet kiss.

She hummed happily and kissed me back with adoring passion. When I finally pulled away, she seemed pacified. And she finally took the bank card out of my other hand. Her eyes sparkled looking at it, as any girl would probably do once given such an ability to spend a boatload of money.

"You'll be fine," I reassured her. "I'll see you tonight."

"But where are *you* going?" Vivienne asked.

I took another deep breath, thinking of the road down memory lane that I'd be traveling. "To visit my daughter."

****

I felt an odd sense of nostalgia while riding the elevator up to the top floor. It was a trip I had taken many, many times over the course of my life. But almost all of those trips had been while I was a permanent resident of the 5th Avenue Penthouse. While I hadn't sold it, I didn't live here anymore. And I noticed the little things that had changed since I'd been gone.

The security desk guys were all new. It had only been a few years, so I'd worried that there would be someone there who might recognize me. But none of them did, and I didn't stop to talk to them anyways. I still had my own access card to breeze right by.

The control panel in the elevator had been replaced, so that all the buttons were _slightly_ different than before. An LCD TV had been built into the display, showing not only the current floor but also the CNN broadcast for entertainment. And the mirrors lining the walls had been replaced by new ones with different beveling than I'd recalled.

But the hallway on the top floor was the same. So was the door leading to my old penthouse. And I had to fight the impulse to just put in my key and walk inside, my muscle-memory moving out of habit before I could remind myself that this was no longer *my* home. Even though I technically still owned it, now it was the home of my girlfriend.

Make that "_ex_-girlfriend".

So I put my keys away. I checked my appearance in the hallway mirror. And then after a deep breath, I rang the doorbell. Then I did my best to smile and be handsome. Even though we were no longer "together", I still wanted to look good for Ashlyn.

The door swung open and a handsome, well-built young man looked back at me with an expression of surprise on his face. He was a little taller than me, and in good shape. And immediately I felt a glower spreading across my face.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Who're you?" I couldn't help but sputter. A GUY? Ashlyn had already hooked up with a new guy? We'd only been broken up for a few months! She was still the mother of my *daughter*! What the fuck was this... other MAN... doing in MY old house?

He blinked in surprise, and then frowned at me. "I'm Karl. Who are you?"

"Karl? Who is it?" Ashlyn's voice called from somewhere back in the house.

"Mr. Kwong!" Charlotte suddenly appeared at the doorway. It took me a moment to remember that after Taylor checked into _Promises_, Charlotte had gone to work for Ashlyn. And the comely brunette with wire-rimmed glasses immediately walked through the doorway and gave me a hug. "Welcome back, sir. It's good to see you."

Though still wary of "Karl", I nevertheless hugged my wife's ex-assistant in return. "Hello, Charlotte. It's good to be back."

We separated, and Charlotte immediately turned to Karl. "This is Jonathan Kwong."

"Oh! Pleased to meet you." Karl turned and offered me his hand. "Karl Scott. Ashlyn's brother."

I felt a mountain load of tension roll off my shoulders. I gawked for a second, then blinked to get my balance back, and finally took his hand. Brother? Reddish hair. Similar cheek structure. Oh. I could deal with that.

"We met once," Karl explained apologetically. "When you and Ashlyn took that trip out to California to show Joey to our parents. Sorry, didn't recognize you."

I shook his hand more vigorously. "Likewise."

Charlotte then finally invited me in, and we all went into the foyer. The sound of little feet quickly sounded on the hardwood, and all three of us turned to see a girl scamper around the corner from the living room. She was not quite 3 feet tall, barefoot, and still dressed in zip-up pajamas. She held a stuffed green frog underneath her left arm, and her right hand was playing with one of the twin pigtails of dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders.

"Joey!" I exclaimed, dropping to my knees. "You're so big!" I opened my arms in greeting, waiting for the 21-month-old to come to me.

But she didn't approach. If anything, she backed up a half-step. The little girl looked at me warily, her mouth etched in a little pout. She covered the lower half of her face with her froggy, and generally looked frightened to death of me.

My heart sank, and I dropped my arms. It had only been three months, but my only child didn't recognize me anymore.

Ashlyn was just behind her. She bent behind Joey, her scoop-necked top falling away from her big melons. But I didn't even glance at her tits. I was too focused on looking straight at my one and only daughter, mentally flogging myself for leaving for so long that she forgot me.

"'Daddy', Joey. You remember Daddy," Ashlyn said soothingly.

Still standing, Joey tilted her head backwards until she was looking upside-down at her mother. Ashlyn kept pointing at me and repeated, "This is Daddy. Say hello to Daddy."

Joey brought her head back down, still clutching her froggy. Ashlyn repeated one more time for her to say hello to me, but the little girl just shook her head 'no'.

Sighing with regret, I stood back up and tried to shrug it off. Joey then turned and scampered back around the corner and into the living room. Evelyn had followed, and gave me a weak smile before going after the toddler.

Ashlyn watched them go and then exhaled. "Sorry about that."

"Not your fault," I mumbled, staring at the empty spot where Joey had disappeared.

The beautiful redhead walked forward, opening her arms to me. I hugged her chastely, simultaneously reveling in the feel of her spectacular body and also not remotely in the mood for sex at a moment like this. She turned her head to peck my cheek, and then pulled back enough to look at me without releasing her hands from my waist. "Hi, Johnny. You look good. Tan. And I like the goatee."

I managed a smile. "Thanks."

She nodded her head further into the house. "Come on in. You look like you could use a drink."

****

We all settled into the living room, except for Karl. While Lucy, Ashlyn's new housekeeper, brought us some drinks and pastries, he said his goodbyes and explained that he had to get to work.

Curiously, I thought I saw Charlotte looking rather fondly after him as he walked out the door.

"So when did Karl move out here?" I asked, after the guy had left.

"A week after you disappeared. You had us all a little freaked out," Ashlyn scolded me. "I was scared to death that you were dead in a ditch somewhere. You were drinking pretty heavily in those days."

"Still do, a little bit," I stared into the bottom of my glass, a mimosa with a decent amount of champagne in it.

"Maybe I should take that away then," Ashlyn leaned forward and extended her hand.

"I'm fine. Really. Look." I deliberately placed the drink down on the sofa table behind me. There wasn't a coffee table anymore, since Joey would've easily gotten her hands on anything placed there. And indeed, the toddler was roaming around the room, cautiously avoiding me and focusing on her toys.

Ashlyn sighed. "Anyways, Karl was looking for a new job; you know how the economy has been lately. I told him to come out here and keep me company. At a time like this, I wanted all the family I could have and would have flown my parents out if they weren't so busy. Karl's working at Baxter over on Cedar Street."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Baxter? I know that company."

Ashlyn chuckled. "Yeah, Cassandra set up the interview for him."

"Ah."

"So where have you been? The only thing that calmed us down after you disappeared was Cassandra telling us you were still drawing money from various accounts. She tracked you to Europe, right?"

I nodded. I'd had practice telling the story last night with Jeff and Kaitlyn. So I started explaining again, pretty much the same way.

But a minute later, Ashlyn interrupted me. "Drowning yourself in pu-, ah... girls?"

From the way Ashlyn glanced sidelong at Joey, I got the impression she had a more explicit term in mind. The narrative had been kept pretty clean last night, as I didn't want to get into any sordid details of my affairs in front of Vivienne and Evania. It wasn't like they were big secrets, but it still didn't make for polite conversation.

And if I didn't want to talk about all that in front of Vivienne, I _certainly_ didn't want those terms being tossed around in front of my daughter. In the end, I just gave Ashlyn a significant look and replied, "Something like that." She and Charlotte could fill in the blanks.

"What made you come back?" Ashlyn finally asked.

I sighed and took a deep breath. "In its simplest terms... _her_." I gestured over to Joey.

Ashlyn looked over, but then I added, "And you." And she turned back to look at me.

"And Taylor, and Cassandra," I continued. "My mind was a mess. Those last days with Taylor... fighting _every single day_ ... arguing about nothing... pointing fingers and blame. And then being reminded of JJ and just breaking down crying. It was too much. I wanted to get away from it all."

"I can relate," Ashlyn replied quietly. She'd lived through those times, watching her two best friends crumbling before her eyes. Even worse, Taylor was turning on her. Whether consciously or not, my wife resented Ashlyn for still having a living child. It poisoned their relationship, and the more and more Taylor spiraled into drugs, the worse it got. Toward the very end, a whacked out of her mind Taylor had actually threatened Joey, and that was just too much. Finally, Ashlyn just had to leave, and she'd packed up Joey and moved here. It wasn't that she didn't love us, didn't want to support us. But she had to protect her daughter.

I looked off into the distance, my mind falling back into the nightmare of before. But I pulled myself away, forcing myself to return to the present. And I found the clarity I needed as those bad memories faded away. "I did get away. I drowned my mind in alcohol so I couldn't function enough to remember the bad stuff. I occupied myself with... yes, girls... to keep me happy and entertained. And eventually... I found that I could... I could _feel_ again."

Ashlyn was silent, waiting me out. Charlotte was the same. I looked at the two of them, and then I looked over to where Joey was staring right at me. Evelyn watched her cautiously, but my little girl was looking at me without fear for the first time since my arrival.

So staring at Joey, I finished my thought. "And I wanted to come home. I was ready to settle down again. And I hoped I could go back to the way things were."

"The way things were?"

I looked straight at Ashlyn, feeling the old love I'd had for her welling back up inside. Our relationship had been strange from the start, built on mutual but forbidden attraction that only got more intense the longer we were kept apart. Things had suddenly accelerated when she wound up pregnant, and we'd both made the effort to really get to know one another and build from lust into love. There wasn't much time, quite literally only a few months before Joey was born. But love *had* bloomed and build so intensely that before our lives went to pieces, Ashlyn had professed a desire to have more children with me. "Can we go back, you and me?" I asked cautiously.

Ashlyn sighed, looking at Joey. "Johnny... it's not that simple. I'm comfortable here now. Central Park is right there. Joey has lots of friends in this building. Work is just a short cab ride away instead of a helicopter flight."

"I know, I know. I'd never take you away from here if you didn't want to. I'd be perfectly willing to come here to visit and-"

She exhaled, cutting me off. "It's more than that..." There was a hesitance in her voice, a wince on her face. Whatever was next, Ashlyn knew I wasn't going to like it. "Johnny... I don't know that I can feel that way about you again."

Her words hit me like a swift kick to the gut. Our "breakup" had been less "break" so much as her just moving away and the two of us drifting apart while I concentrated my energies on Taylor. Certainly, all the tabloids and newsmags proclaimed it a breakup when she'd moved out of the Montauk mansion and into this penthouse. But the two of us had never formally stated we were breaking up to each other. Ashlyn had moved out, I'd focused on trying to keep my wife sane, and the two of us just... didn't really talk much.

I still visited Joey as much as I could back in those days, but the opportunities for me and Ashlyn to be together hadn't really come up. And I realized that she and I had ceased to be physically intimate long before I'd jetted away on my disappearing act.

In simple fact: Ashlyn had fallen out of love with me.

"It's nothing you did. It's just... after all this time..." Ashlyn sputtered. "I mean, I'm not saying that we _couldn't_... but I... I just don't know if-"

"Daddy."

Ashlyn completely dropped what she was saying and turned to look at Joey. The little girl had walked up within a couple feet of me, and stood there with her froggy under her left arm and her right hand braced against the side of the sofa. "Daddy," she repeated.

"Daddy!" I enthused, staring down at my little girl with fresh excitement. "I'm Daddy!"

Joey turned that over in her head a few times, looking thoughtful. And then after another pause, she toddled forward, walked between my legs, and put her right hand on my kneecap.

"Hi, Joey..." I said warmly. I had the biggest smile; I couldn't help it.

And then to my utter delight, Joey raised her hands up, froggy in her left hand and all, and commanded, "Up!"

I grinned and picked her up into my arms. Oof, she was heavier than I'd remembered. I turned her and sat her down on my lap, hugging my little girl from behind with my arms around her waist. She continued to play with her frog for a few seconds. And then after another moment, she tilted her head back until she could look at me upside-down, and said quite clearly, "Hello."

I beamed. Ashlyn smiled. And Evelyn even walked over with an approving look on her face.

"She just needed some time to remember you," Evelyn said sagely.

I grinned and held my daughter. Ashlyn then came over, kneeling before me as she put her hand on her daughter's knee. "You remember Daddy?"

Joey nodded, and then looked back at me. She stated emphatically, "Daddy!" and then she giggled marvelously.

Ashlyn's position in front of me once again gave me a spectacular view down her chest. She followed my gaze, then smirked and looked up at me. And with a sigh, she conceded, "Maybe we both just need some time to remember. Okay?"

I nodded. "Fair enough."

****

I stayed most of the day with Ashlyn and Joey, with two exceptions. First, Joey had a morning playdate with some other kids on another floor. Evelyn took her down and stayed while I caught up with Charlotte and my ex-girlfriend. Ashlyn wanted the salacious details of my Mediterranean adventures. It took awhile for me to open up about those, wanting to respect the girls' privacy. But eventually she got the basic details of my romps from the Naoussan locals to the Spanish University trio and finally to the four French babes.

The girls also told me about Ashlyn's latest modeling gigs. Charlotte had her schedule running so smoothly that Ashlyn wondered how she'd gotten along without a personal assistant all her life. There was one big change, however. Ashlyn used to go on shoots without her daughter, even if it meant leaving for more than a couple of days. A year ago, it didn't bother her. She knew Joey was well cared for in Montauk and it gave her a break to feel young and single again.

But after a single trip in the last three months, she couldn't handle the separation. Not with "everything going on" as she put it. So for her most recent two trips, Ashlyn had brought Evelyn and Joey along. She figured Joey was old enough to appreciate the travel, even if she wouldn't consciously remember it when she was grown up.

The second time Joey left was when Evelyn and Charlotte took the toddler out to Central Park. There was an afternoon parade of sorts, and the little girl loved the colors and dancing. But as much as I wanted to be out there with her, being seen in public with Joey would surely compromise my identity.

So I was alone with Ashlyn for the first time in a long while. But while I missed the feel of her body and the intimacy we'd once shared, I wasn't about to put any moves on her. Instead, the two of us just talked, reclining in the Master Lounge with the view of the park. That's when she drew out of me that I'd brought back Evania and Vivienne with me from Europe, and that I was still operating under my Tom Eriksen identity.

"Replaced me already?" Ashlyn asked a little cattily.

"No one could ever replace you," I tried to placate her.

"Knock her up and you can have a new son or daughter too, _Tom_."

"*Ash*," I snapped.

She sighed. Ashlyn was quiet for a long time, just staring at the window, shaking her head every so often. I waited her out, not wanting to piss her off any further. And eventually, she turned to look at me.

"This is why I'm not sure we can get back together."

"Why?"

"I thought I was special."

"You ARE special."

"You think ALL the girls you're with are special."

"Well... most of you *are*."

"Yeah, well, maybe we want to be *unique*. You ever think of that?"

I frowned. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that maybe I've felt a little left out lately, alright? Taylor's your wife. Cassandra has always been by your side, even more inseparable from you than Taylor. But me? I was always just third best."

"Ashlyn!"

"Tell me it isn't true."

"It isn't true! I love you all, you KNOW that. Plus, you're the mother of my ONLY child."

"And that's the only thing that makes me unique, isn't it? Take away Joey, and I'd be no different from this tramp you picked up on a beach in Mykonos."

I glowered, "She's not a tramp."

"You're _defending_ her?"

"Of COURSE I am."

"So what am I now? _Fourth_ best?"

"Ash..."

She huffed and turned away from me again, going silent once more. I leaned forward to rub her leg, but she slapped my hand away. I didn't try to touch her again.

A few seconds later, she turned back to me. "We girls cracked a lot of jokes about your harem. Most of them don't mind being a harem-girl. Erin, Stephanie, M&M... they have fun, and then they move on. Mia's in Seattle. Rebecca just got married. Kate's next." She took a deep breath. "I guess now it's my turn."

"Hey! You were never a 'harem-girl'!"

"Wasn't I?" She looked at me bitterly. "No, you're right. I wasn't, but only because I got pregnant. Without Joey, I'd have just been another faceless model. Slam, bam, thank you ma'am."

"Ashlyn, I LOVE you!"

"Do you? DO YOU, Johnny? If you love me so much, how could YOU LEAVE ME?"

"What?"

Ashlyn was crying now, holding her head in her hand as she once again turned out the window. "How could you leave?" she whimpered. "If you had to get away... get away from that house, get away from that life, why the fuck did you go to Europe? Why didn't you come HERE? With ME? And JOEY? Why not?"