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He’s the least friendly looking man in the place. I’m not very good about striking up conversations with strangers and he must be the least approachable person I can imagine. Every instinct I have is telling me to run.
I can’t. If I have any hope at all, it’s with him.
My pulse pumps wildly as I make my way over to his table. He doesn’t even glance up until I speak.
“Excuse me,” I begin.
“What?” He’s impatient at being distracted from his tablet.
My mind races as I stand before him, my cheeks burning. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to you for a moment. I work for City Scan and it’s about the edition going out tonight.”
I pause and he stares at me blankly. “Young lady, what is it that you want?”
“I know you don’t know me, but I need your help. It’s a matter of great importance.”
He’s not impressed by my urgency. “Call the office. My assistant can see about making you an appointment.”
“I need to talk to you now,” I say as firmly as I can while I’m quavering on the inside. “It’ll only take a moment. Please.”
A deep frown creases his brow and he glances around. He might be looking around for security so I plunge straight in. I don’t stop talking as fast as I can until I think I’ve told him everything he needs to know.
His stony expression hasn’t changed from the moment I came up to him. I wait expectantly but all he does is stare back at me.
Climbing out of the cab, I stop and gaze at my building. How can things have changed so much since the day I moved in? I thought for sure I’d arrived and my glamorous life was just beginning.
Instead I’ve ended up hurting the men who mean the world to me.
I can hardly believe that everything’s fallen apart this badly. Logan and Asher and Julian will never forgive me once the feature comes out. I can’t come up with anything else I could possibly do to stop it.
The publisher listened, I’ll give him credit for that. As I told him what was happening he leaned back in his chair and foldedhis hands together, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of me.
After I was done, all he said was that I should go home. I have no idea what he thought or if he even believed me.
I know I was grasping at straws. Some random stranger telling him to pull a major story from one of his popular magazines isn’t going to have a lot of credibility. I wouldn’t believe me if I was in his position.
I don’t want to go inside. Not yet. I don’t know if the guys are back but I’m not ready to face them if they are. Even if they’ve somehow fixed it, I can’t undo the things that I did. I don’t even know what I could possibly say to them if I ever see them again.
So instead I walk down the block and head into the restaurant at the corner. The late dinner crowd’s thinning out so there’s a decent chance I can get a seat.
I find a small table in the corner. One quick glance around the place shows me that coming here was a mistake. I’m completely surrounded by couples and groups of friends having fun.
The waitress brings my drink quickly and I sip it while I stare out at the street. What I wouldn’t give to be sitting on the sofa watching a movie with Logan and Julian. I don’t want to be sitting by myself in a cool Manhattan restaurant.All I want is to be with Asher and Logan and Julian. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing.
“All alone, Elena?” The voice grates on my last nerve. “No more men to hang around with?”
I clench my glass tightly. “Stop following me, Owen. This is getting beyond stalkery.”
He sits down across from me, completely uninvited. He lifts up his beer as if he’s making a toast me. “Still drinking those girly drinks? Nothing’s changed, huh.”
I’m so done with him insulting everything about me. “Girly drink?” My eyes narrow as I stare at him. “This marg has two kinds of hard alcohol in it, including tequila. They’re close to forty percent each. That’s a lot higher alcohol content than that weak-ass beer you’re drinking, isn’t it. What is it, like, three? That’s not very manly of you.”
He blinks at me. “More than that,” he says unconvincingly. He obviously has no idea and he hates it when he can’t get one over on me.
“My drink’s not so girly then, is it?”
He ignores me, of course. God, his arrogance is ridiculous. “Why are you here?” I try. If I give him some attention, maybe he’ll leave sooner.
“I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Owen says. “Those guys you got involved with must’ve done a number on you.” He shakes his head condescendingly. “I don’t know what you were thinking, getting involved with any of them. Let alone more than one.”
