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“Know what?” My lip trembled as I fought back tears. “Know that you loved someone as cold-hearted as that? Know that you belong with someone like her? Someone with money and status? I have none of that. I can’t give you what you need. I’m sorry,” I sobbed, backing away from him and his brother.
“Olivia!” He called after me as I ran, but I didn’t look back.
I had to get away before my emotions got the best of me.
???
I found the staircase leading to the basement and ran down them. I had ditched my shoes a few minutes ago and carried them in my hands.
I picked a door to a room I knew I had never been shown, hoping that would give me more time to get my emotions in check, since I knew Trace would look for me in all the rooms I had toured.
“Holy shit,” I gasped as the door closed behind me.
I looked around, dazed.
“Of course,” I muttered, inhaling the scent of chlorine. “They would have an indoor pool.”
The floors were made of some kind of pebbles and three of the four walls were solid glass windows.
The night sky reflected into the room and the full moon lit it.
I dropped my heels and they clattered to the ground.
I pulled the dress up to my thighs, and sat at the edge of the pool, dangling my legs into the heated water.
I took deep breaths to quiet my sobs.
I don’t know why I had freaked out so bad. I’d like to blame it on being a girl and stupid insecurities. I had already felt uncomfortable and Aubrey had made me feel even more out of my element. I didn’t belong here, while she did. She fit in with these people. She was gorgeous and from a rich family like Trace. I would never, no matter what, fit in with these people.
When Trace had shown me around and introduced me to people, I had let him do all the talking. I wasn’t good around strangers, never had been, add in the lifestyle difference, and I was a fish out of water. I didn’t know how to talk or act around them. Did they have a book titled, Talking to Rich People for Dummies? If it existed, I needed it.
I sighed and kicked my feet through the water, watching the bubbles I created float to the surface and disappear.
I wiped at my cheeks and my hand came away black.
I sighed again. There went all of Avery’s hard work.
I reached down and used the pool water to clean my hand. I stood and went in search of a towel. I opened several different cabinets, full of various pool related items, before I finally located the towels.
I wiped my face clean of the smeared makeup, and tossed the soiled towel in the hamper beside a bathroom.
Still sniffling slightly, I made my way back to the spot I had been sitting in before, dipping my legs back into the warm water.
It seemed weird to be sitting with my feet in pool water when there was snow flurrying outside.
My tears finally stopped and my hiccups quieted.
I continued to kick the water and watch the ripples while biting on my fingernails.
The door behind me opened, and I turned slowly, praying it was Cecilia or anyone I didn’t really know.
“Hey,” Trace said nervously, shoving his hands in his pockets. He had ditched his tux jacket and his hair was mused with the many times he had run his fingers through it.
“Hi,” I turned away and stared down into the blue depths of the water.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he murmured and his dress shoes clacked against the pebbled floor. “I was getting worried.”
“Well,” I spread my arms, “here I am.”
