Read Online Distracting the Billionaire's Son by Jordan Bell - Free Book Online

my stomach. Breakfast was lighter and I opted
for yogurt and fruit and skipped the heavier stuff. I didn’t think I could
stomach it anyway. I noticed Eva ate nothing and drank coffee like it was
water. Jonah ate a full breakfast, speaking sometimes to his mother and
listening when his father spoke at him. I recognized the polite tolerance he
afforded his father. I had that look down to a science.
    “You’re at Penn State now, aren’t you Jonah? When will you
be done getting that fancy degree and start making your old man truck loads
money?” I glanced up from my breakfast at the over boisterous voice of Mr.
Silver’s brother, though I couldn’t remember his name. He’d arrived this
morning and missed the outburst from last night.
    Jonah got his expression under control behind his water
goblet and when he set it down, the only thing burning were his eyes. No one
noticed but me.
    “I just finished my graduate program last week.”
    His uncle expressed the same surprise I did when he yelled,
“Well, damn boy! Why didn’t you say something?”
    “My father doesn’t like what I chose to study and I won’t be
joining his company, so it seemed rude to brag.” Jonah practiced taking a bite
of his breakfast, looking at his uncle, at his food, and back up, all the while
avoiding eye contact with anyone else. It didn’t matter, his father jumped on
the opportunity.
    “International goddamn business and trade. He wants to go to
Japan for a year to work for some company there and come back and start his own
firm. Not only does he want to abandon his family, but he wants to compete
against it. Most goddamn thing I’ve ever heard.” Mr. Silver threw his napkin
into his plate and Mrs. Silver stifled a noise that broke my heart. Eric kept
his head down, Melissa stared oblivious into the ceiling, and Shannon seemed to
still be dosing at her table. I was starting to understand that as long as
their father’s attention was on Jonah, it wasn’t on them. Briefly I forgot my
anger and humiliation from the night before and I felt sorry for him. He would
have hated me for it.
    “Ah,” Jonah’s uncle took the longest sip of water I’d ever
seen. When he set it down I bet he was hoping for a refill of whiskey. “Now why
would you want to go and do that, kid?”
    “I don’t want him to leave the country, but I’m very proud
of all the work he’s done. He graduated at the top of his class,” Mrs. Silver
said. She took her husband’s hand and squeezed it very, very hard.
    “I like what I do and I do it very well. Silver Investments
does not have a very large international interest, so it is not for me.”
    “His family isn’t for him. He’s had one foot out the door
his entire life.” Mr. Silver’s voice rose an octave until he was the only one
in the room talking. Eric grasped my wrist and leaned into me, his voice
desperate.
    “I will give you one thousand dollars if you change the
subject immediately.”
    I stared at him and understood how painful it must be for
him to watch his older brother admonished constantly for choosing his own life.
His eyes shone with it. I held his gaze and I don’t know what came over me when
I yelled out, “Jonah!”
    His head snapped in my direction, his pupils large and
responsive, and he stood so suddenly the water glasses rattled. Our connection
was instant, his response overpowering our better senses. Everyone at his table
turned to look at me and Eva McCallister’s eyes narrowed. Jonah calmed quickly,
sat down, adjusted his water glass, and cleared his throat.
    But I thought I saw relief, too, now that he could avoid his
father patronizing him in front of his family. “What? What do you need?”
    “I…” My mind went blank. I thought of his mouth, his hands,
his bedroom in the dark, sand between my toes, nothing at all I could say out
loud. “Eric said you have a boat. I was wondering if you’d take me.” A look of
horror came across Jonah’s face. I rushed on like a