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I snorted. “She tells herself that stuff because it brings her comfort. It isn’t true. He has no time for her.”
Determined to put the whole thing out of my mind, I settled in the luxurious suite, had brief phone calls with both Derrick and Judy, indulged in a long shower, and then got ready for bed.
As I put my cell on charge, I checked my notifications, hoping to see a message or missed call from Kaiser.
There were none.
But it seemed that I had several missed calls from my publicist, along with many unread messages from my friends in our chat group. Sitting on the plush chair inside the bedroom, I decided to check in with my friends first and opened up the app.
Izzy:What the hell did Camila say to you, Inaya?
Briar:Need me to smack that bitch up?
Cat:Shit, the video’s gone viral.
The bottom fell out of my stomach. Video? What video?
It only took a quick internet search for me to find my answer. Tight knots formed in my gut. Someone had sold the elevator video footage to a tabloid.
Oh, God.
The footage had no audio, so no one knew what got said, but there was plenty of speculation. While most agreed that Camila and I had been fighting over Kaiser, some thought that it was merely a PR stunt.
Rubbing at my throat, I jumped to my feet. Wouldhethink that it was a stunt? Would he believe that I’d taken a page from Peyton Court’s book and decided to stage a verbal fight with one of his exes?
He might. Kaiser was a man who expected betrayal from the women in his life.
I knew one thing for certain. He would. Be.Furious.
He liked his private life to remain as private as possible. No one outside the Vault was supposed to learn of our arrangement, but our involvement with each other had been ‘outed’ to an extent by the photos that were taken of us at the hospital. Rumors and reporters had been on our asses ever since, and I’d kept feeling as if it would take only one more thing to make him declare that he was done.
A video of his ex and his Vault play partner quite clearly arguing with each other wasn’t going to wash down well with him, because he’d have to share in the publicity.
Shit, shit, shit.
It was right then at that very moment that it struck me. Hard. Like a bolt of freaking lightning.
I loved him. Not simply Kaiser Wolfe the rock legend—that was only one side of him. I adored every side, every layer, every topping. His bluntness, his implacability, his curtness, hissomehow-sexy arrogance, how he was so authentically himself and didn’t change his personality to suit anyone.
My feelings for him were nothing close to a teenage crush. They were deep and true and real andnow I was fucked.Because I had only one option.
I’d have to exit our arrangement.
That was if he didn’t do it first, of course. I suspected he’d beat me to it due to the damn footage. Much as it would hurt to watch him walk away, I wouldn’t wish for him not to. I wouldn’t lament it. There was simply no way I could be in a mere arrangement with someone I loved.
That wasn’t a conversation we could have now, though. It needed to be done in person. But we did need to have a whole other conversation, thanks to freaking Camila. I wanted to assure him that it was no stunt.
My hand trembling, I tried calling him, bracing myself for … well, I didn’t know what to expect. He had a temper, but he wasn’t a shouter. Still, he would likely be somewhat chilly, wouldn’t he?
I didn’t get to find out for certain, because my call didn’t get through. Either his phone was off or he was in an area with a shitty signal.
I spat out a string of panicked curses. Fuck Camila. Fuck her sideways.
I made a quick call to both Derrick and my publicist. Both were furious with the hotel, since one of the employees had evidently sold the video. They assured me that they’d handle it but, really, the damage was done, wasn’t it?
It didn’t help that none of my subsequent calls to Kaiser got through. Eventually, I stopped trying and simply left him a voicemail asking him to call me back.
Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I reopened the chat group, finding more messages from my friends asking if I was okay.
