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“You mean she quit,” he insisted.
I furrowed my brow. “Is that what it means?” I felt like a confused, hormonal teenager. I’d been horrible when I dropped her off, not saying a word about when I would call her. I thought she wanted to be away from me.
On top of that, I was upset for some damn reason. Upset that she was leaving, upset that I was going back to my apartment alone and that I was clearly no longer in control—if I had ever been in control since I’d picked her up this afternoon.
“Sounds like she quit to me,” Cole said. He waited a beat. “So if you two are done…can I have her number? There’s not a lot of action out here tonight.”
My jaw clenched again. “No, you cannot have her number,” I said hotly. “I’ll text you her service’s number—there’s a girl there you might like. Jenny. She’s Audrey’s friend. Go get an escort of your own.” Leave mine alone, I thought.
“I know you like this girl,” Cole said. It sounded as though he was yawning. “You can try to hide it, but you suck at it.”
“Thanks,” I said tersely.
“You might want to call her,” he said. “If I want her number, other guys do, too.”
“Talk to you later,” I said.
“If you’re lucky,” Cole said and hung up.
I opened up Audrey’s contact information and stared at it for a minute. Then I took a deep breath and stared at it for a while longer.
“Mr. Preston?” Kai asked. We were still idling at the curb near her house.
“Just put it in park,” I snapped.
One hour later, I dialed.
She answered after the first ring.
“Audrey?”
“James?”
“I’m sorry to bother you. Are you still up?”
“I just answered my phone. What do you think?” she asked.
I sighed. “Would you consider coming back to the apartment with me tonight? My mother just called,” I lied. “We have an early breakfast.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sure.” She waited a beat. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
She was going to make me work for this, I could tell. “Of course that’s what I want.”
“Okay,” she said. She sounded cautiously optimistic. “I’ll just call a cab. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“No need,” I said smoothly. “I’m still parked on your street.”
She was quiet for a second. “Then I’ll be right down,” she said.
Five minutes later she slid into the car next to me. She was wearing fuzzy boots, pink sweatpants, and a T-shirt.
“I was in my pajamas,” she said apologetically.
“It’s okay. I want you to be comfortable,” I said.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows and said nothing.
We drove to the Stratum in silence. I couldn’t tell if it was awkward silence or not, but I felt relieved that she was back with me, which was stupid.
Kai let us out, and we went through the opulent lobby together in silence. She shuffled across the marble floor in her fuzzy boots, not looking at me. I hit the elevator button, and we rode to the top floor. I noticed, against my will, that she looked very cute in her pajamas.
I inwardly groaned. Between the Bambi eyes and the use of the word cute, I needed to slap myself, hard.
I unlocked the door, relieved to be back home. I just wished it was Los Angeles, far away from my past. Audrey went over to the window and looked out at the city spread out and glittering beneath us.
“It’s so beautiful from up here,” she said, and she sounded very young to me. She was young. Too young to be living such a harsh life.
I wished I could explain myself to her. I sighed and sat down on the couch, finally loosening my tie. “Audrey, I’m really sorry about before,” I said.
“Which thing?” she asked.
“All of it, actually,” I said. “I’m sorry I told Cole about us. He’s the one person I’m usually honest with. And I’m sorry I just left you on the sidewalk like that.”
She said nothing, still staring out at the lights.
I sighed again. “I’m not good with people,” I said. “I’m more of an analysis guy.”
“You’re fine with people,” she said immediately. “You just don’t like them very much.”
“I’m not used to liking people,” I corrected her.
She gave me a searching look. “Is that because of your family? Because I know you don’t like them.”
“I have issues with my parents, like I told you…” I said, my voice trailing off. The headache was coming back. “It’s about some stuff that happened a long time ago. Some of that is what makes it difficult for me to trust people.”
