AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” Truly surprised, Lana blinked rapidly. “But—”
“You got what you wanted from us. Gabby will be here first thing in the morning to clean. Have her uniforms ready. But right now, we’re leaving.”
Gabby squeaked out her surprise when I grabbed her hand and hauled her toward the door. Lana rushed after us.
“But you haven’t even eaten. Is this because of that handsome, young waiter? Were he and Gabriella lovers? Dear Lord.” She eyed Gabby speculatively. “Does she means more to you than I originally thought? You look quite jealous right now, Hayden.”
I jerked the door open and glared over my shoulder at her. “Goodbye.”
Nudging Gabby—a bit forcefully—into the hall, I slammed Lana’s stupid diamond door in her face and stormed down the hall, pissed that I’d been wrong about the one woman who’d made me think maybe life didn’t have to be so miserable after all.
Jesus, I was such an idiot.
I had trusted her.
But why had I trusted her? I barely even knew her.
This sucked. And it hurt. God, here came those fucking feelings I’d been trying to avoid for eight long years. They slammed into my chest, nearly robbing me of breath.
All the while, I just wanted to grab Gabby by the shoulders and shake her, demanding to know why. Why couldn’t she just be what I’d needed her to be? Genuine and honest and spunky, merely everything she already came across as being.
Why couldn’t something in my life finally be true?
Chapter 17
Gabby
I marched down the hall, glaring at Hayden’s rigid back and stewing, so mad I could barely see straight. What pissed me off more was how ticked off he looked about the appearance of Diego.
I mean, where did he get off, acting all indignant and churlish after merely seeing someone irritating from my life? I’d just spent the last half hour with his fucking mother from hell, being played and controlled. I had more right to be upset here than he did. Especially after he’d just thrown me under the damn bus and haggled over a deal for me to remain trapped in her clutches.
The bastard.
Unable to keep my anger in check a second longer, I jogged ahead to catch up with him, muttering, “Way to have my back, back there. I mean, thanks a fucking lot. Really appreciate it. Asshole.”
He’d been reaching out to open the door to the outside, but my words caused him to drop his hand. Spinning around so fast that I jumped in surprise, he barged forward, right into my personal space until he was looming over me ominously.
Eyes flashing with heat, he snarled, “For your information, it wouldn’t have mattered to me why you had me put on that little show with you in the alleyway earlier for Daffodils. I would’ve helped you regardless. I honestly don’t give a fuck if it was actually to make an ex-lover jealous and not to shake off an unwanted admirer. So you never had to lie about it, okay?”
“I…” Jaw dropping, I gaped at him before sputtering, “What?”
“You made it sound as if his pursuit was entirely one-sided, that you’d never had any interest in dating him. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and you’d been trying to shake off the close-minded Neanderthal—as you specifically called him—for weeks.”
“Yeah,” I spat, “because that’s exactly what happened.”
Pointing down the hall, he boomed, “So, you’re telling me you didn’t come here, to this building, on Halloween night, specifically because of him? Because we both know you didn’t come with the intention of stealing from my mother. And I can’t picture you willingly stepping foot inside a pretentious place like this unless you had a damn good reason.”
I threw my hands in the air, frustrated by this turn in the conversation. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about freaking pest Diego. That man had been a thorn in my side since the moment I’d met him. But apparently, I had to clear the issue up with pain-in-the-butt Hayden before I could even start to rage at him for what he’d done to me.
Gah, what a nuisance.
So I cried, “Of course I came here that night because of Diego.”
Hayden’s eyes flared, and he sucked in a breath as if I’d just stabbed him straight through the chest and he hadn’t seen it coming.
“Well, then you should’ve just said you two were a thing,” he muttered.
“Except we’re not,” I bit out from between gritted teeth.
