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“What did Janus want to talk to you about alone?” Leander asked, and I didn’t like the edge to his voice.
I pulled back from him, interrupting our flow. “Are you ordering me to tell you? Am I not allowed private moments?”
His jaw flexed and he yanked off his sunglasses, which had looked ridiculous in the dark club, though plenty of other rich assholes around the place were wearing them too.
“I don’t think you quite understand what’s going on here,” Leander said, his voice so low and deep it was barely audible over the music.
I got right up in his face. “Then why don’t you explain it to me? Because I’m tired of feeling like a piece of meat in a tug of war between you and your brother.”
Leander stepped back, a furrow in his brow like he was confused. “What are you talking about?”
I blinked at him. What the hell did he mean, what was I talking about?
Suddenly, all this globe-trotting and the second round of jet lag was hitting me. I waved a hand at him, no longer in the mood to try to unwind the Gordian knot that was the Mavros twins.
“I have to go to the bathroom.” I started stomping off through the crowd.
Leander yelled my name but it was lost in the pounding beat of a new song the DJ was laying down. And this was one instance where Leander being such a giant was a hindrance. I was curvy and unassuming. I could squeeze through a crowd invisibly. He was a mountain in a bad disguise, theoretically trying to stay under the radar.
I only started looking for bathroom signs when I was about halfway across the huge dance floor. I glimpsed one in the direction I’d been headed. With a club this fancy, there were probably twenty bathrooms anyway.
I pushed through the golden-gilded black door into the bathroom, which was done in whites and golds.
There was a beautiful sitting area that looked like the parlors in the fanciest mansions Makayla and Destiny had ever partied in. I hurried through to the bank of mirrors and sinks. Each mirror was lined with lightbulbs and gold accents. It was officially the most glamorous bathroom I’d ever been in.
And all I could do was stare at myself in the mirror and feel torn apart inside. I didn’t look great. My lipstick was almost worn off from dinner. Dammit, why had I given my clutch to the door attendant? I needed to reapply. Though even if I’d had the bag, my mascara was getting smudged at the edges and I didn’t have any handy repair for that—
Then I breathed out heavily and closed my eyes. Jesus, just be honest with yourself, Hope. The problem wasn’t my frizzy-ass hair that didn’t know what to do with this salty sea desert air.
It was time to ask myself the real questions. Even if they made me nauseous. My stomach swooped and not in a good way as I looked myself in the mirror and let the nasty voice in my head rip.
What was I really doing here, playing sex kitten to rich movie stars? Pretending I was living some teenage fantasy? All I could hear on repeat was Janus saying those things to me out on that dance floor, looking at me like I was his world.
… But he and his brother have been actors since they were children. I knew their secret now too—Janus was just as good of an actor as his brother. He used his talents differently, yes, but he was just as good.
And to be honest, while I wasn’t the nice little religious girl I’d once been, I was still young. And impressionable, I had to admit it.
They’d bowled me over. Hook, line, and sinker.
And the reason I’d been so afraid to tell Janus the truth? I was in love with him. I was in love with Leander. Hard. And I was in love with Milo, my friendly confidant helping me organize travel and bookings… until he turned into the dirtiest talking stranger who would look but not touch…
I wished I wasn’t wearing so much mascara. If I could just splash my face with some water. I fanned myself.
God, you’d think with such a fancy place, they could afford to crank up the AC. And then I frowned and put a hand to my forehead. It was damp, and all of a sudden I didn’t feel so good.
Maybe dancing so soon after eating all that food hadn’t been such a good idea.
Oh. My stomach lurched suddenly and I got a sick feeling at the back of my throat. Oh no!
I turned and ran for one of the toilets hidden behind a ten-foot tall pearlescent-white door. Just in time to empty the most amazing meal of my life into the gorgeous porcelain toilet of the second fanciest club in the world.
