Page 94 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

Carmen’s attitude towards me earlier tonight made sense if she thought I was ditching Jelly for Gia.

I pulled my phone out and called Jelly. Voicemail. I texted her, but when I still had no response after five minutes, I knew.

She’d moved out. It was over.

I called Carmen.

“Hey, asshole,” she answered.

“If that’s the way you always answer your phone, I think I have a clue as to how you earned your reputation…”

“What do you want?”

“Where’s Jelly?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“I’m just going to go out on a limb and say she’s already moved into her new house. What about the contract? There are still at least two weeks left…”

“Well, there would be if you hadn’t broken a rule.”

“What rule?”

“You signed that contract with the knowledge you wouldn’t date or sleep with other women during the time you were with Jelly.”

“I didn’t,” I said, pissed.

“Really? Because that woman you were with tonight sure looked like she thought she was on a date. Doyou know she’s at Cayenne right now telling everyone she’s your girlfriend but that you don’t care if she fucks other people?”

“What? Why would she say that? She’s not my girlfriend. That wasn’t even a real date tonight…”

“What about last night?”

Ah. Leo told her I was at Bahia Del Sol with Gia. For a decent sized city, West Bay still felt like a tiny town sometimes.

“Also not a date.”

“Whatever. You have three days to get your shit out of the condo.” She hung up on me.

I stood there holding the phone and staring into space.

I’d really, truly fucked things up.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Jelly

I was sitting on my new couch with Nia. We were deep into our second bottle of wine and watching some shitty rom-com on Netflix. I was still trying my best not to cry, but it was hard. At least with Nia I didn’t have to hide who I was. Even with Nadine I’d always tried to be the strong friend because I’d felt like she always needed me to be that for her.

But Nia was a straight up badass. She was tough all on her own. She didn’t need me to be anything other than who I was, so of all my friends? She was the only one I really felt able to cry around.

And I’d cried a lot over the past couple of days.

After I’d left Paolo’s parents’ horrible dinner, I’d stayed up late, assuming that he’d come and see me. He almost always slept over. But he didn’t come that night. Oh, he texted soon after I left, checking to see that I was alright. But when I didn’t text him back? He’d let it go.

I didn’t see him the next day, either. And all I could picture was him shacked up with Gia Santoro. Then when I’d gotten a text from Nia with a screenshot from Gia Santoro’s Instagram page, I knew. It was a selfie of her and a laughing Paolo out at the rooftop bar at Bahia Del Sol.

He’d gone out with her after I’d left feeling bad. It seemed Paolo didn’t care about me much at all. I’d put my phone down and tried to hold back the tears. He wasn’t worth them. I’d thought he was. But he wasn’t.