Beautiful Billionaire Bidder: The Carter Brothers, #7

By Rachel Foster

Brandon's a billionaire and has bought a huge mansion and 10 different sport cars and nothing has made him happy. He's missing something still and his maid tells him he needs love. Tinsley grew up with a monster of a father, John, after losing her mother at the tender age of six. Her dad punishes her for sins he assumes his deceased wife made against him. Her father sells all his 230 Workout 24/7 businesses that are spread across United States to Brandon for 50 million dollars. Brandon wants them because he loves to work out and gives him something to do with his life since just buying things wasn't making him happy. But he finds out from his lawyer that John is also selling his daughter Tinsley to the highest bidder. So Brandon decides to get Tinsley as part of the of the business deal... 

• Language: English
• Publisher: 3rd Publishing
• Release date: Mar 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215930496

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Beautiful Billionaire Bidder

Rachel Foster

Copyright © 2018 by Rachel Foster

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Contents

Beautiful Billionaire Bidder

Beautiful Billionaire Bidder

1

Tinsley

"H

ey, Tintin!" Anna called to me cheerfully, over the counter. I couldn’t help but smile. If there was anyone out there who could make this shitty-ass job feel passable, it was her.

Hey, I replied, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind my ear.

You almost packed up? She asked, and I nodded.

I think so, I agreed. Just need to get the cutlery wrapped for tomorrow and then I’m good to go.

You going to come out with us tonight, Tinsley? Bradley, one of the other members of staff at the restaurant I worked at, asked me with a big grin on his face. I got the feeling that Bradley had a little bit of a crush on me, and I wondered what would have happened if I had just let myself give in to it. The way he looked at me sometimes, I wasn’t sure how it made me feel, but damn, it would have been nice to find out one way or another.

Uh, I replied at once, blurting out my complete lack of answer before I could stop myself. I didn’t know what to say. Some part of me wanted to tell them that yes, I would be coming out with them, that I would love to and that I would be right with them just as soon as I had finished my duties at the restaurant.

But the other half of me knew that there would be hell to pay if I dared defy my father again. And there wasn’t a chance in hell that I was going to make my living situation any more unbearable than it already was.

You have to get home early, right? Anna covered for me swiftly. To babysit for the family next door?

Oh, yeah, of course, I replied, nudging her with my feet to thank her silently for covering my ass. I’ll do it some other time, alright?

You always say that, Iris, another waitress, told us as she dipped into the conversation. You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were avoiding us.

Good thing you know better, Anna remarked, her bright, bubbly attitude enough to throw them off the scent, at least for the time being.

Well, don’t spend all your time working, Brad told me. You don’t want to forget the rest of your life, right?

Right, I replied, and I managed to put a smile on for long enough that the two of them headed off and I could get back to wrapping cutlery. I glanced at my watch. I didn’t want to be here much longer. If I didn’t get out in the next fifteen minutes, then I would be home late, and if I was home late...

Something on your mind? Anna asked me, but I knew that she had already guessed what it was. I glanced over at her, trying to contain the fear in my heart.

It’s nothing, I replied, in an attempt to keep the mood light – I didn’t want to worry her if she was about to go out with the rest of the staff and have some fun. I never wanted to be a burden on Anna, but I got the feeling that, most of the time, that was exactly how she saw me.

Who could blame her? I spent most of my time here looking at my watch and praying that nothing would keep me from getting home late. I knew that he would be waiting up right now, ready to punish me if I walked through that door with even a second over the deadline that he had made sure to give me. It wasn’t the sort of shit someone our age should have had to deal with. Anna might have been a couple of years older than me, but she still had all that bright, bouncy teenage energy, and nothing was going to deflate it.

I didn’t want to be the reason that she couldn’t enjoy her night on the town, so I put a smile on my face and waved her off.

You have nothing to worry about, I assured her. I just need to finish this up and then I’m going to head home. I’m tired, anyway, I could use some rest...

Yeah, of course, she agreed, and she bumped me out of the way with her hip. Here, let me help you with that. You’ll get done faster that way.

She helped me wrap up the last of the cutlery, and I tried not to listen to the excited chatter of the rest of the staff on duty that night as they planned on heading out to go drinking and partying all night long. I knew that I would never get to enjoy that same kind of carefree attitude – I knew that I would be stuck trailing home before everyone else and knowing that I was still likely about to land my ass in a huge heap of trouble.

You have a good time tonight, okay? I told Anna as I walked her to the door, pulling on my giant puffer coat and hoping that it would be enough to fight off the chilly wind sweeping through the streets that evening. She nodded.

You too, she replied. But it was an empty gesture. She knew that there was no way that I could go back home and be anything other than miserable. But I managed to keep the smile on my face, right until she vanished, when it dropped like ash from the end of a cigarette.

I hurried home, sure that I was going to make it on time. I had to be. I had kept an eye on the clock all night long, and I was sure as heck not going to let the cold streets or my stiff legs slow me down. I was going to make it back in time, I had to...

But, as soon as I stepped through the door and sensed the atmosphere in the house, I knew that I hadn’t tried hard enough.

It was awful, really, that I could tell how he was going to treat me just based on the silence when I stepped through the door of our tiny little apartment. Nobody calling my name to welcome me home. Just that dead, utter silence, and the dark, apart from the television flickering in the living room, casting an eerie blue light over everything in front of me.

Tinsley?

His voice cut through the air and made me jump.

I’m here, I replied, and he emerged from the kitchen, beer in hand.

There you are, he snapped, and he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me into the kitchen. I knew that there was no point at all in protesting, in saying that he was hurting me – he probably would have just enjoyed that, to be honest, and the last thing I needed right now was to indulge his twisted enjoyment of my pain.

What happened to my mug? He demanded, jerking me towards the sink. There were dirty dishes piled almost up to my waist with old food that I knew I would need to chip off soon.

Which one? I asked.

You know which one, he snapped back. You got rid of it, didn’t you?

I didn’t get rid of any of your mugs-

You must have, because it’s not here, he replied, casting his arm wide over the kitchen. Care to explain that?

I didn’t say anything. No point.

That’s what I thought, he sneered. I knew that he had probably broken his stupid mug when he had been drinking, but he hated to admit that he had a problem, so all the mistakes that he made when he was drunk usually got shifted onto me. Better that than he actually had to face up to his problems, right?

And you’re late, he continued. I told you, I worry when you’re not on time. You want me to sit here, worrying, getting into a state?

No, I muttered. Sorry.

That’s what I thought, he replied. He still had his hand on my arm, his fingers digging roughly into my skin. If I tried to pull away, things would only get worse.

I need to change, I told him, and he finally let go. I felt my shoulders slump in relief. That wasn’t as bad as it could have been; that was for sure.

Go, he ordered me, and I slipped out of the kitchen and towards my room before he could change his mind.

As soon as I was through the door, I sat down on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. I was shaking. I always did after an encounter like that with him, no matter how used to it I got. I couldn’t count how many times I had come home to find him in this state, so often that it was normal to me now, but when he put his hands on me, it still scared me like nothing else did.

The room around me was the same one I’d had since I was born – painted bright pink with peeling paint in the corners, unicorn decals almost falling off the walls. I had asked if I could re-do it, but my father had been pretty clear about the fact that he didn’t want me touching it. And I knew that there was no point arguing with him. There never was.

He had held it against me ever since I was born. My very existence, that was. I knew that if he could have avoided it, he would never have taken me in in the first place. His wife, my mother, had cheated on him just before she got pregnant with me, and he had always told me that he had no idea if I was even his daughter. That he was doing something out of the goodness of his heart by taking care of me after my mother had died giving birth to me. I was lucky, he was always keen to remind me, that he was so giving and welcoming. Sometimes, I felt like that was how he justified everything that he did to me – he made sure that he had a reasonable out, that he could pretend that there was something he could redeem himself with.

But I knew there was no chance in hell that he would ever stop this. He was always angry at me. He had always held my very birth against me, and I knew that it was never going to stop. And I hated him for it.

I hoped that I wasn’t his daughter. I would lie awake at night and pray that I had nothing to do with him, so that one day when this was all over, I could just get out, leave all of this behind, and know that I didn’t have any of his rotten blood in my veins.

But working shifts at the restaurant was hardly making me enough to save for my own place, and I didn’t know how much longer I could take it before I had to escape from there. My home, my prison. With a guard who always seemed to know what was best for me, no matter what it took.

I stared up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. I just wanted to be shot of this place. I didn’t know how long it was going to take, but I would do it one day. There was no way that I could spend the rest of my life living with this, living with him, pretending that I could handle his cruelty.

I knew that I was worth more than that. He might have tried to convince me otherwise. I was worried that I was going to succumb to it one day, but that was all the more reason to escape as soon as I got the chance. My life was worth more than this. It was always going to be. And he wasn’t going to change that.

2

Brandon

I

screeched the car to a halt, opened the door, and leapt out to greet Chris with a shit-eating grin on my face.

Well, well, well, I told him as he climbed out of the car, looking beaten-down. Looks like you owe me a car, I remarked, and he rolled his eyes at me.

You’re ridiculous, he told me.

Sounds like something someone who doesn’t want to pay up for a car would say to try and get out of it, I replied. Come on, you promised. You were going to buy me the same one.

Why do you need two of them? He asked, slapping the top of my car. We had agreed on a short race on my parents’ property and had bet another car on the outcome. And, of course, I had managed to take the victory, and my best friend was the one who had to pay up.

One for show, one for play, I told him, and I tossed an arm around his shoulders. Come on, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.

Yeah, must be hard work, sitting around on your ass all day, he replied.

You say that like it’s a bad thing, I replied. Most people would love to live a life like that.

Yeah, and those people are lazy assholes just like you, he teased me.

You’re just sour because you have to buy me another car, I replied, and he sighed.

Yeah, you’ve got a point, he agreed, as we mounted the steps up to my parents’ house.

It was hard to believe, sometimes, that I was going to walk through that door and not see them there. I couldn’t believe that I had really lost them. I missed them so badly it felt as though my insides had been hollowed out.

And I knew that I wasn’t doing myself any favors sticking it out in this place. I knew that I should have moved on, found a place of my own, like so many of the rest of my brothers, but I felt like moving on was going to be the equivalent of leaving them behind for good. The memories of them lived here, and I didn’t want to move away from those right now.

Not to mention the fact that all of their staff were still here. That made my life a hell of a lot easier. I wasn’t ready to go out into the world by myself right now, not like the rest of my brothers. They had all struck out with the money that our parents had left them, but I...

I didn’t have the same ambitions that they did. I