The Billionaire's Billboard Proposal by Rose M. Cooper

Author:Rose M. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oshun Publications, LLC

7

A Date at the Hospital

An incessant banging awoke Stella in a flurry of bed sheets and pillows. Her feet hit the cold floor with a groan.

The door flung open. “Stella.” Eleanor pierced her with a glare that cut through her sleepy fog. “Do you know what time it is?”

She turned to the digital alarm on her nightstand. “It’s 5 a.m.” A time for sleep.

“Yes,” her aunt hissed. “It’s 5 a.m., and you’re still sleeping. Are you trying to jeopardize your cousins’ futures?”

At once, she remembered that her cousins were traveling to Detroit to shop for jewelry for an upcoming party. She’d forgotten to update her alarm!

“I’m sorry,” she said, her mind now alert but her tongue still sluggish. She grabbed her gown and draped it on. There was no air conditioning in the attic.

Her aunt didn’t move as she approached the doorway with her phone in hand. “I don’t know where you went after I explicitly told you to stay at the party that night—”

“I—”

“Don’t interrupt me.” Her voice was sharp. She eyed Stella’s disheveled waves with distaste. Stella tucked a dark strand behind her ear. “I don’t care enough to want to know. All I care about is you taking the work you do in this house seriously. There are no free rides in life. Do you understand?”

Stella nodded, ignoring the feeling that she was being scolded like a child. She resisted the urge to wring her hands together. Even if she was being treated like a child, that didn’t mean she had to act like one. She straightened her shoulders. “I understand. It won’t happen again.”

After a pause, her aunt nodded. “Good.” She stepped aside from the doorway, allowing Stella to brush past her. The tiles were cool beneath her bare feet. She could hear her cousins getting ready as she passed the second landing, the cool air pungent with too-sweet perfume.

The kitchen was quiet except for the music drifting from the TV in the living room. She found Julia there, her elegant neck tilted toward the TV as models in dreamy sky blues and pastel pinks ambled down a glowing runway.

“Good morning,” Stella greeted in a small voice. She’d felt cautious around Julia ever since she’d been caught eavesdropping on her conversation with Kiana. Kiana had seemed to forget the incident as soon as it happened, but she’d seen Julia watching her in a way she never had before.

“You’re late,” was Julia’s reply. Her long fingers wrapped around her mug as she took a sip of what looked like green tea. She kept watching her over the cup.

Stella turned toward an upper cabinet for a pan and set it on the stove with a clatter. Her hands were shaking. “I’m sorry. I forgot to set my alarm. Your mom was kind enough to wake me up,” she added, though there was nothing kind about the way Eleanor had woken her up. Her behind was still aching.

Julia hummed. She could feel her watching her as she prepared their breakfast—scrambled eggs with toasted bran bread and beans.

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