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“You don’t understand,” she said to Steph over the music.
“I understand perfectly. You just need to set your ground rules early in the relationship so he knows you’re your own woman.”
But was she? She had a low-paying job she barely made it to half the time. Even though her parents had paid for her college tuition, she’d racked up an almost six-figure student loan just for room, board, and incidentals. She couldn’t help it that attending a prestigious college meant spending a lot to keep up with your fellow affluent students.
Even before meeting Caleb, she’d known she needed to rein in her spending habits, but why did it have to be so damn hard?
About the only thing she really did well was run her Instagram account where she’d just hit the one million follower mark. She loved being an IG influencer, but she seemed to be spending all the money she made just trying to keep up with her online image.
She barely made it five more minutes before she finally snuck away from her friends to head to the locker room near the front entrance. The night was young enough that there was a steady stream of guests still arriving and the going was slow against the traffic pattern. By the time she got her locker open, the alcohol she’d been drinking had sunk into her gut, giving her a churning tummy ache.
My luck, I’ll be hungover all day tomorrow at the wedding.
The second her phone had power, it blew up with texts, IG notifications, and messages from family and friends. But it was the forty-three-second-long message from Caleb two hours before that she went to first.
Presley pressed play, expecting to get an update about how things were going in Amsterdam and reassuring her that he’d be home just in time to attend the wedding party the next night with her. The message he left was oh-so-different than she’d expected.
Oh shit, he came home early.
Double shit… he knew she called in sick again at the last minute.
O.M.G.,he knew about all the purchases she’d put on his card in the last twenty-four hours. It was all related to the wedding, and she planned on paying him back… someday.
He sounded so serious. So angry. So…bossy.
Despite knowing how much trouble she was in, her girly parts started that tingly melting that always happened when Caleb went all Domy on her. She both hated and loved it in equal measure.
Now what? Her first reaction was to gather up her purse and just leave. To drive over to his house and try to explain.
But explain what? That she was an idiot? Had no self-discipline when it came to spending?
That didn’t feel like a good strategy.
Maybe she could try to seduce him. They’d been apart for almost two weeks and short of a few sexy conversations over the phone, he had to be as anxious to see her as she was to see him. Hell, she’d been edging herself for days on his orders.
Still unsure what she was going to say, she pressed his contact number and held her trembling phone up to her ear.
One ring. Two. Three. It went to his voicemail.
Shit.
He must really be mad.
She hung up just in time to avoid leaving a message.
Only after sending a few text messages and trying his phone again did she use their phone tracking app to locate his phone.
Holy shit. He was here. In the same building.
Paranoid, she started spinning, looking in every direction in her attempt to find him, but she had limited line of sight stuck in the locker room.
Quickly stuffing everything in her locker again, she exited and headed out into the rest of the mansion. She took the long way around toward the dance hall, winding through the social rooms and kitchen looking for Caleb.
When she got back to her table of friends and there was still no Caleb, it finally dawned on her.
He had to be downstairs. He went to Black Light—without me.
The realization hit her like a bus. The liquor she’d already regretted drinking threatened to reappear.
