Unmatched Love Read online

  Chapter One: Fetish

  James Lyons's POV

  "I'm not looking for love." Jacob said casually as we watched the models strutting on six inch heels. "I found love with Margaux and that is enough for me."

  Attending a runway show was not my cup of tea unless it was Victoria Secret but sometimes, we tend to do things in the name of love.

  Erma had reserved two front row seats so that we could see her new summer collection that entailed a lot of revealing clothes and beach ware.

  Erma was a successful fashion designer with her own label.

  She was Jacob's mom but she had raised me like her own son. I adored her and treated her like my own mother.

  "Who is?" I asked him.

  "Why are you here then?" Jacob questioned.

  "Mother called, I answered. Besides, I'm here to see a certain blonde number."

  "Who?" Jacob asked curiously.

  I pointed to a beautiful long haired blonde with large green eyes that resembled emeralds. I had seen her a couple of times in magazines but I had never met her in person.

  Just watching her strutting on the runway got me riled up.

  "Her." I pointed.

  Jacob smiled and smacked the back

  of my head.

  "You've always had a thing for blondes. What the hell Tony?" He teased.

  I never got to see Jacob a lot. He was like an older brother to me and since his wedding to Margaux, he had been scarce. That women seemed to occupy all his time.

  "Actually it's more of a fetish for blondes with green eyes. Do you know how bloody hard it is to come across them?"

  I stared at her as she walked past us in a skimpy floral bikini. She winked at me and Jacob laughed at how dazed I looked after that.

  Through the runway show Jacob made fun of me and I couldn't help but laugh at myself.

  I was and have always been an unapologetic play boy. I was not as serious as Jacob. I didn't see a wife in my near future. I loved to have fun and I could do it anywhere, anytime.

  I always got the girl as long as Jacob was not in the picture. Girls always chased after me. But this green eyed blonde was a different story altogether. I was the one chasing after her.

  She was a hot number!

  I wanted her and Jacob could see how much. He made sure to make fun of me.

  "Mom should know the only reason you're here is because of the blonde. Do you even know her name?"

  "Bea Bianca." I said proudly.

  "She told you or do you have a dossier on her?" Jacob pried.

  "Dossier."

  "Typical."

  "I needed to know who I was dealing with. Let's go back stage and meet her." I suggested.

  "Go ahead. I need to head back to Manhattan. I left Margaux kind of unwell. With the baby's delivery so near, i cant be away for long."

  Jacob adored his wife and he had cursed everyone to hell for her.

  "Won't you say a quick hello to mom?" I asked.

  "Pass my regards to her. Later."

  He left as I headed back stage.

  Jacob and his mother had had a falling out since he eloped with his bride without her consent. Erma never attended the wedding and they had stopped speaking after that. Those two were both stubborn and unapologetic.

  The back stage was a frenzy of activity. Beautiful girls were all over the place and a few gawked at me but my focus was on the woman peering at me from her seat.

  As soon as I reached her she stood up.

  "Tony!" She exclaimed as she hugged me tightly and I kissed her cheek.

  "Mom."

  "Look at you turning heads. You are a lady killer. I'm glad you took time out of your busy schedule to come."

  "Anything for you mom. You know I love you, right?"

  "I know. I just wish Jacob loved me as much. Where's he?" She asked in her Italian laced accent.

  "He had to leave." I told her.

  I saw disappointment register in her brown eyes. She sighed and it took a moment before she recovered.

  "I'm glad you came. How have you been? Seen anything you like?" She teased.

  I knew exactly what she meant. There was nothing more that Erma wanted than to see us married off.

  "Someone is more like it. Her name is Bea Bianca, have you seen her?"

  "Bianca?" She asked in surprise. "She's not good for you. Try Alexa. She's more of your type."

  "I like Bianca." I insisted as I peered at the dark haired woman with brown eyes who I imagined was Alexa.

  She smiled at me and I smiled back.

  "Tony, not all wild horses can be tamed." She told me.

  "Bianca is wild?" I asked.

  "Just like you. She's fire you're gasoline, don't pursue her. She'll break your heart."

  "I'm not looking for love." I told her as she fixed my tie. "And I don't intend to give my heart."

  "What are you looking for my baby boy?" She asked.

  "A steamy one night stand." I told her and she laughed softly.

  "You boys are heart breakers. I still insist on Alexa. Bianca won't surrender herself to you, not without a fight."

  "She's feisty?"

  "And fiery."

  Erma added. "Don't get burned Tony. I have to attend to my models. Alexa is good for you, she's... submissive."

  She kissed my cheek.

  "Use protection. I don't think you're ready to be a father."

  I watched he'd leave and I smiled to myself. She was right, being a father was something I had no intention of doing.

  I stared at Alexa and winked at her. She smiled shyly. If I couldn't get Bianca tonight, I would settle for Alexa.

  *

  I got home later that night or in the wee early morning hours if truth was to be said. I had not been able to trace Bianca but I had I had settled for Alexa and her friend.

  My nights were mostly like this, a different girl every other time. Rarely did I hang around the sane woman for more than a month. I got bored easily and I needed to be constantly entertained.

  My penthouse was quiet when I walked in. It usually was and I envied Jacob because whenever he went home, he was welcomed by his wife. All that ushered me home was eerie silence.

  Sometimes I liked it this way but sometimes I missed the noisy home I grew up in back in Tuscany.

  I met Jacobolas Berlotelli Bale when I was six years old. For some reason, his mother sent him to a boarding school in Switzerland and I went to the same school.

  The first time I met him was on a cold Autumn evening

  when he had saved me from a bully.

  Without words or fists, the bully had fled the scene. Perhaps it was the dangerous look he had always had in his eyes or the fact that he was a reputable bully.

  Whatever the reason, he had become my best friend. He had always had my back.

  On one winter evening after schools had closed, I had been among the last students to get picked. Jacob and I were the only ones left. When his mom came around, he asked if I could come home with him.

  She had asked for my father's number and after an extensive discussion away from earshot, j had left for Tuscany with them.

  It sort if became our routine. I literally moved in with them. They became my new family and my father never seemed to give a damn about it.

  Jacob and I were like brothers all through. We did almost everything together. When he turned eighteen however, he left for Manhattan to become one of the youngest CEOs I have ever heard of. During his summers since he was fifteen, we would spend our summers in Manhattan where he was taught the ropes of Bale Industries.

  I had tugged along and served as a distraction whenever he worked too hard.

  After he had permanently left Tuscany I had hung around and ended up being his grandfather's apprenti
ce at the winery.

  Nonno had taught me everything I knew

  about business and as a result business school was a walk in the park for me.

  Later on after I finished college, I went back to London in hopes that my father would let me work for Bellingerre Consolidate.

  I have always had the strangest urge to please my father and have him look at me in the same way he did my older brother Reinaldo.

  He gave me a position at Bellingerre Consolidate but not as his assistant but as an intern. He had me fetching coffee for people.

  I found it humiliating.

  I regretted not taking the offed M

  Jacob's grandfather had given me. He had asked me to be the acting CEO of Berlotelli Winery and Vineyards but I had declined in hopes that my father would give me a seat at his table.

  With all the pride that ran in my veins, I didn't last long as an intern at Bellingerre Consolidate. I went ahead to threaten my father by quitting but he gave me an ultimatum; intern or getting disowned.

  I chose to be disowned then to become the old man's puppet.

  I ended in working for Jacobs mother as her accountant and financial advisor.

  Later on, for my twenty third birthday, Jacob gifted me with an oil well.

  I moved to Abu Dhabi and stayed there until recently. Five years in Abu Dhabi had taught me to live life to the fullest. I partied hard and enjoyed my millions which slowly grew into billions.

  Life was great and I would never have set foot in London had if not been for Erma's invitation to watch her runway show.

  I poured myself a full glass of vodka and downed it in one gulp. After another two glasses, I was set for the night.

  This was my routine.

  Without my vodka, I couldn't sleep. I had so many demons haunting me and so many problems lurking after me. Such things kept me awake all night. My drink knocked me out for most of the night.

  I crawled into bed and closed my eyes for a moment.

  I may be a billionaire but I had my plagues. I craved for some peace of mind, some contentment and some security but I just couldn't afford all that as much as I was wealthy.

  I turned to the left side of the bed and stared at the empty spot. Maybe filling it won't be so bad. I needed the company, the love and attention.

  I decided to sleep in the middle of the bed. That way, it wasn't so empty anymore.

  I lulled myself to sleep with thoughts of Bea Bianca. I had to have her, I had to own her.

  =================

  Chapter two: Bad news

  James Lyons's POV

  We all stared at the doctor dumbfounded. No one seemed to react. It's like time stood still as I watched Jacobolaus Bale stumbling back. The news of his wife's death had left him weak. His knees buckled and Cole Harrington was fast to act. He caught our good friend just in time.

  I being the hot tempered man that I was, wanted answers. Bloody hell! Even Jacob wanted answers; it's only that he was too shocked to ask. So I decided to do what the rest of my friends couldn't.

  I would scare the doctor until he gave us something.

  I stood from where I was sitting dropping my laptop on my seat and I stalked towards the doctor. The darkness in my eyes must have scared him because he stalked back and I grabbed him by the shirt.

  "You better have a bloody good reason behind Margaux's death or else I will make you regret the day you decided to become a doctor."

  He gasped and looked at the rest of the guys hoping to be rescued but my boys knew better than to get involved in any fight I chose to start.

  "I suggest you start talking."

  "She bled out sir!"

  "Not good enough!" I threatened as I slammed him hard against the wall.

  "She had a pre-existing condition that we were not aware of."

  "What condition? Is it not your job to be aware?" I demanded.

  He was a cowardly man and a few more seconds of my torture and he would have wet his pants. I slammed him against the wall to encourage

  him to talk when he began.

  "She had full blown leukemia sir."

  Surprise ran through me and my grip on him weakened.

  I released the man and stared at Jacob who was now paler than death. He didn't seem to be aware that his wife had cancer. He abruptly stood up from his seat and his fists met the wall one after another until he wore himself out.

  He uttered a string of curses in Italian as we watched him. This monster was the Jacobolas Bale I knew. The man who would knock you out of your seat without standing up simply because you said something stupid.

  Margaux Deveraux had softened Jacobolas Bale's heart and for the two years they had been together he had been a sane man.

  Mr Perfect...

  She always thought that Jacob's temper was a product of my friendship with him. That offended me since Jacob and I had known each other since were kids. She also thought that Erma was too demanding. Margaux was not my choice for Jacob's wife bug because he loved her,I learnt not to intrude.

  But truth be said, all the men in the waiting room with me are ill tempered. It's just a matter of what triggers the sleeping beast to awaken... for Jacob, it's his wife's death.

  Jacob took off and Cole followed him. Ferrer left with the doctor to confirm Margaux's death. I was left with Bruce who also seemed confused.

  "She had cancer?" He asked with doubt obvious in his voice.

  "Seems so. Poor chap! Two years only and she dies just like that!"

  "I am never settling down." Bruce announced.

  All four

  of us with the exception of Jacob had grown up in crazy families. Take me for an example. I had an older brother and a younger sister and neither of us shared the same mother. My father has never settled down. He simply fathered children from different women and then took us away from our mothers. Bruce's parents were picture perfect in public but at war in private. Ferrer's step dad had abused him after his mother's death and he had ended up growing alone fending for himself on the streets. Then there was Cole. His parents literally fought each other. Jacob was the only one born in a stable family. He had been raised with this idea that marriage is happy. No wonder he settled down while the rest of us grew allergic to the matrimonial aisle.

  The poor guy was now a widower and his daughter would be raised without a mother. As we thought about the evening that had just unfolded a nurse walked towards us holding a baby in her hands. She looked at the two of us as if weighing who to approach and she chose me. Bruce always wore this killer look on his face that scared the hell out of people.

  "Congratulations Mr. Bale." She said to me.

  Congratulations!

  I preferred that word only after closing a business deal but not when being handed a new born baby.

  It dawned on me that this was Jacob's new born daughter. I gazed down at the baby and then at Bruce who looked mortified. I looked up at the nurse and smiled.

  "Actually I'm not Mr. Bale. I'm a friend

  of his. He had to take a walk. Is this his daughter?"

  "Yes. Her name Is Madeline Marie Deveraux Bale."

  What a lengthy name!

  "Would you like to hold her sir?" She asked. "Or should I take her back to the nursery?"

  I was hesitant but curious all at the same time. I stretched out my hands and held the little baby in my hands. She was a beauty to behold. She had Jacob's blonde hair and his pale blue eyes. My heart melted and I smiled when she looked at up at me. I instantly felt my persona softening in front of this beautiful and innocent little girl. I smiled at her and looked up at Bruce who was cautiously approaching us. He looked down at the little girl and then took a step back.

  "Do you want to hold her?" I asked him.

  "No. I don't want to. I have to go. Give Jacob my regards."

  He walked off.

  He was scared of the prospect of being a father.

  Weren't we all?

  ***

  I was driving towards my fath
er's house after my plane landed in London. I was still thinking about Jacob and his new born baby girl.

  It saddened me that the two of them were on their own. Cole had promised to hang around for about two months or so just to help him get a grip of his new life.

  We had agreed to arrange our affairs so that we can do a rotation each of us taking two months to see Jacob and Madeline.

  That is who we were. The five of us always stuck out our necks for each other. We never turned our backs on each other.

  I knew Jacobolas Bale well enough to know that his sudden calmness would not last long. Hell was about to break loose. It's just a question

  of when?

  My mind lingered more on Madeline Marie Deveraux Bale.

  I had held her until Jacob returned at four in the morning.

  I James Lyons Bellingerre held a new born girl for almost four hours without hitting the panic button.

  Jacob had managed a small smile for his daughter who would serve as a constant reminder of his late wife.

  I couldn't help but imagine myself a father in the four hours I had held Madeline. I had imagined a little girl of my own with beautiful large emerald green eyes like and sun kissed blonde hair like Bianca. That little girl would only exist if Bianca and I made it happen.

  I hadn't even spoken to her and here I was fantasizing about her having my baby.

  Why was I even thinking about babies?

  Bianca gave the impression of a bad girl. The kind mothers warn their sons of. A part of me wanted to believe that this girl was simply traditional about things with the whole -getting to know each other first- engagement- marriage then sex fiasco- but part of me felt she would surprise me.

  I must have been insane to imagine her pregnant with my little girl. I was not a traditional man. I was not the -getting to know each other- engagement- marriage then sex- kind of guy. I was the -sex first then let's see how it goes guy...

  If Bianca was as wild as I thought she would love that but if I was wrong, she definitely would hate that but I am who I am and I won't change.

  I would have Bianca soon enough.

  For

  now, I had a meeting with my old man and I hated it but when Wayne Bellingerre calls, you answer. That much I had acknowledged.

  I pulled up in front of the plush Bellingerre Manor and handed the valet my keys. My father had a freaking valet! Yet people wonder why I have a personal chef! It runs in the family. The Bellingerres have always been very wealthy and sophisticated people. We live life to the fullest!