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“That andBabushkatold her I own the casino. I don’t know what was worse, but she left. I have to get her back.”
“But she needs to calm down, and chasing her will only piss her off more.” His words make sense to me. “Plus, you have a meeting with your brother and father tomorrow, and there have been some issues here.”
“I’m on my way in now.”
I reply to emails and texts as we make the forty-minute drive back to the Strip. When we pull up, I pause and look around me before I enter the building. That feeling I had the other night is back. Someone is watching me. It’s why I started carrying my gun again. But now with Erika, I’m going to need to get a handle on her too so that whoever is watching me doesn’t go after her.
ChapterSix
ERIKA
I’m home in my own place, and I roll over and over from side to side on my bed. I can’t believe I got out of Vegas without him finding me. I had hired a shopper to get me clothes and rented a car to get out of Vegas. To throw off Grayson, I drove to LA, where I boarded a plane first class to Chicago. I spent the day there before I landed in Eastport early this morning. I’m exhausted and hurting. My heart and chest feel constricted.
I roll over in my bed as my cell phone rings from the side table. I look at the display to make sure it isn’t Grayson. He’s called so much that I wanted to turn off my phone, but I can’t. I’ll have to come up with something, maybe get a new number.
“Yeah.” I sigh into the phone.
“You’re home. Come over tonight for dinner, please.” Jas’s voice comes through the line. She’s excited and loud, and it makes my already sore head ache more.
“I can’t, sweetie. I’m really jet-lagged.” It’s true, but it’s so much more than that.
“Too late. It’s already planned. You promised before you left, and now that you won you have to.” She squeals before she hangs up.
I sigh as I roll over and move to the adjoining bathroom, where I take a long shower and finally wash all remnants of Grayson from my body, his scent gone now. The last place he kissed, the marks from his beard burn, the love bites and hickeys are all still there, and I can’t wait until they are gone.
I left him before he could leave me; that’s my justification for this. He tried to ruin my career and then me, but I won’t let him do that to me. No one will ever do that again. I was devastated after my parents left us. They barely called and kept up appearances as parents. Meemaw was our parent. She went to all the parent-teacher conferences. She managed our lives. She did it all.
After she died, I thought my parents would come back and help. I thought they would be impressed with my art and want to be a part of my life. I was sorely mistaken. They only wanted money. They didn’t get any and tried to make nice with me to get mine, but Leif wouldn’t let them. They left angry and haven’t been back since. I don’t know where they are, and I don’t care anymore. They proved what they really cared about. My mother had yelled at me before she left. She said the only reason she had us was to get the money. The more kids, the more money. My meemaw had figured it out and cut them off. My father has no claim to any of the money, land, or anything else associated with the Arnold name.
I step out of the shower, and with the towel wrapped around my body, I put on makeup and do my hair. As I’m doing that, I decide I need to make a change. My phone continues to ring and chime off and on with calls and texts from Grayson. I ignore them and dress in a pair of snug jeans, a long-sleeve half-shirt, and high-heeled boots. I head downstairs, where I choke down a protein shake and move everything from the little clutch I flew home from Vegas with to my bigger bag. I don’t have appointments tomorrow with any clients, but I will on Wednesday. Maybe I can walk into my salon I go to and get my hair changed again.
I drive across town to the suburbs where Jasmin and her husband live in the house her parents had before they died. She wanted to keep her siblings in the house they knew. I’m so proud of what Jasmin has done with her life. From going to paramedic school to becoming our full-time bookkeeper and admin assistant. I don’t know what we are going to do when she has that baby, because Ryan isn’t going to let her work much. He’s an ER doctor at our local hospital, Eastport General. My phone rings through the car speakers, and without thinking, I hit accept.
“Jas, I’m almost there. If you need something from the store, decide now because I’m too close. Tell Ryan to stop freaking out.” I laugh, forcing it out, trying to act normal when my whole life is crumbling around me.
“Princess, where the fuck are you? Who are Jas and Ryan?” Grayson’s voice growls through the speakers of my Mini Cooper and I swear my body trembles with desire.
“I’m not telling you. And you know who Jas and Ryan are if you listened to me.”
“Erika, I’m deadly serious. I need to know where you are so I can send you protection. My life isn’t all good.”
“I don’t care about your life. I’m not a part of it. I can’t believe you lied to me like that. You ruined my reputation.”
“I never wanted to do that. I was afraid you’d run, just like you have, if you knew I was bratva—”
“I don’t care about that!” I cut him off. I pull up outside Jasmin and Ryan’s large house and disconnect Grayson from the car audio, taking my phone with me.
I stomp up the walk and open the front door, where I continue arguing with him.
“Tell me where you are right now,” he demands. Oh no, he didn’t.
“No. I won’t tell you where I am, asshole. Lose my number and sign the fucking papers,” I hiss into the phone. I had annulment papers sent to him as soon as I got my head on straight.
“I’ll spank your ass so hard you won’t be able to sit for a week. I’m never signing those papers. I told you, you are mine, and that’s what you’ll continue to be.
“Don’t you dare threaten me with spankings. I can’t believe you lied to me.” I hang up the phone, and it starts ringing again.
“Everything okay?” Ryan asks, and he watches me as I turn off my phone. Another task for tomorrow is to get a new number. Grayson knows I’m home now.
