Page 92 of Dirty Boss

I huffed, taking a sip of my drink. “Not my scene,” I agreed.

“If things fall through with Arlo, you should give me a call,” Leif said.

“You’re looking to expand? Seems to me you’ve already got an empire.”

Leif grinned. “I’m always looking for opportunities,” he said, settling in beside me as we watched the crowd go by. “I think you and I have got that in common. Excuse me.”

As Leif re-entered the fray, with other attendees parting before him like fish before a shark, I was struck by the certainty that I didn’t belong here. I didn’twantto belong here.

I never should’ve come.

THIRTY-FIVE

ALBA

I’d been stridingtoward the washroom hallway, and then James was there. It shouldn’t have shocked me to see him—to hear his voice calling out my name—but it did. He was still as tall and green-eyed and gorgeous as usual, even more striking in his evening jacket and white tie.

When his hand closed around my arm to drag me down the hallway, his head ducked away from the crowd, I let him. It was muscle memory, maybe. We’d circled around each other for so long. He’d promised me the world, and I’d imagined scenarios just like this. Where we might steal a moment, where I might finally take the leap and be with him. I imagined walking in on his arm and making it public.

Instead, all I’d had were stolen conversations. Messages. Phone calls. Promises. I’d lived a life of fantasy, crafting a relationship between the two of us that never existed.

He’d only wanted me as a stepping stone into a life that he thought I could provide.

“Let go of me,” I finally said, snapping out of my stupor.

“Alba, babe,” he crooned, ducking his head. “I’m sorry, but you just look so beautiful, and?—”

“What do you want?”

He had the audacity to look wounded. “I just wanted to talk to you. I miss talking to you. Things ended so abruptly between us?—”

“Did you not get the message when I blocked you?”

“That was a joke,” he said, blinking, looking completely innocent. He tilted his head, a hint of the smile I used to love so much curling his lips. “You didn’t mean that. You told me you wanted to see me.”

“In hell,” I said, even though it was Deena who had written the words. “I told you I would see you in hell.”

His eyes sharpened. “That was a joke,” he insisted. “But it’s okay. I forgive you.”

“I think you might be insane.”

“Alba.”

“I can’t believe this act worked on me before.”

“What act? You look great, by the way?—”

“I don’t want to hear this.” I threw my hands up. “Leave me alone, James.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” His voice held a different note. Something that made the back of my neck twinge, like there was danger that my body sensed but I hadn’t yet consciously detected. James took a step toward me.

I stood my ground. “And how did you get through the front doors? I’m guessing you were marked down on the list as, ‘Yvette Williams…And Guest?’”

It was a catty thing to say, and I knew that the pop of my eyebrow would infuriate him. And I realized, in that moment, just how much I’d held back during our “relationship.” I’d made myself small and pleasant and likable, because I was so desperate for his attention—for any attention. I’d hidden my true personality, because I didn’t think I was lovable.

It took a year of being destitute, of picking myself up off the street and surviving, to learn my own worth. It took a man likeVaughn to show me that I could be loved even if I hid no part of myself.

But this man in front of me? He’d never known the real me. He’d been able to see how desperate for affection I’d been, and he’d used it to worm his way into my life.