Page 105

We’d discussed that it wasn’t, but in his head did he think that it was?

My cheeks were burning and I knew they were bright red. I wanted to throw up. It was hard to swallow around the knot in my throat, because I wanted to cry. All this physical trauma was happening as this asshole looked at me with a hopeful smile on his face, waiting to see if I could be bought yet again.

“I’m so sorry,” I managed, trying to sound like I was very funny and cool about this. “But I am out of the business now.”

“Oh, come on,” he said, and I could tell he wasn’t a jerk. He was a nice guy, just like Declan.

A nice guy who was rich enough to think I could be bought.

Which obviously I could.

God, I was such a fool.

“You’re sure?” he asked. “There isn’t anything I can give you so you’d help me out here?”

“Nothing in the world could convince me to do that again,” I said.

“Okay, well, let me know if you change your mind,” he said, and I smiled and nodded mechanically as he walked away.

I didn’t realize until he was out of the building that I was shaking.

I don’t know that I’d ever hated myself as much as I did at that moment.

40

WTF

Declan

It had been hours since Abi had responded to any of my texts, and it was driving me crazy. I knew she had her own life, and a few weeks ago I hadn’t known she existed.

But her silence was stressing me out.

And Imissedher, damn it.

I hit the FaceTime button, knowing it was kind of a dick move to not text her first before doing it, but I also knew she was off tonight so she was probably at home. Hell, she was probably baking in my kitchen or binge-watching something on my TV.

It rang and rang, to the point that I almost hung up, but then she answered.

I was immediately grinning like a total chump because I loved her face. I loved her stubborn chin and freckle-sprinkled nose and those brown eyes that I could stare at for hours and never tire of.

“Why have you been ignoring me all day?” I asked. “Too busy joyriding in my car to talk to me?”

“No, I was just really busy,” she said, and I realized at that moment she looked more serious than she ever did.

And she wasn’t really looking at me, she was looking down.

“Something wrong, Mariano?” I asked, unease settling into my gut.

“No,” she said, lifting her chin. “Everything’s fine.”

But the fact that she wasn’t saying anything else meant everything was definitely not fine. And then I noticed the background.

“Where are you? I assumed you would be lounging around my place.”

“Yeah, I actually started moving back home this afternoon,” she said, like it was no big deal.

“Why?” I asked, dread settling into my stomach. “You still have time left on our deal, remember?”